Two Sides Of A Coin
by Snap Change
Summary: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou. Ryou x Marik
1. It Began With A Bite

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 1) – It Began With A Bite**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

"Gotcha!"

"Ah!" Ryou suddenly found himself pinned to the ground by an excitable ball of energy. He struggled playfully against Marik, by now more than used to being drawn into impromptu wrestling matches on the floor of their apartment. Or the game shop. Or anywhere they happened to be, really.

Joey had introduced him to the game back in high school, after a fire drill had left everyone standing around outside Domino High with no Duel Monsters cards and nothing to do. Marik had taken to it instantly, despite being thoroughly defeated, and he now rarely went more than a few days without pouncing on someone.

Ryou pulled his arms free of Marik's grasp, making his own grab for Marik's hands. If he didn't get them now, they could end up anywhere. On Ryou's chest or his back, brushing against the back of his legs...

Ryou may have been putting less energy into the grab for Marik's hands than he could have.

"No, you don't," Marik said, pressing down on Ryou's body to try to regain the advantage he'd had when he'd first pounced on Ryou. "I'm going to win this time."

While Marik was always the one to start scuffling with him, Ryou usually managed to pin him down in the end somehow. If the point of the game was to come out on top, Marik rarely won. If the point of the game was to drive Ryou absolutely insane, however, Marik won _all the time,_ the near-daily physical contests ranging from extreme fuel for Ryou's fantasies to sheer frustrating torture as his friend pressed his body against him, or straddled him, or lay on the ground flushed and panting beneath him...

And all seemingly without any clue of the effect it had on Ryou, despite having plenty of opportunities to feel the evidence pressed right up against him. Ryou had been embarrassed at first, certain Marik would make a clueless comment about it, but Marik either hadn't noticed or hadn't cared. He didn't seem to think there was anything different about doing this with Ryou than there was about doing it with Tristan or Joey, the somewhat less common targets of his exuberance.

_Maybe he thinks it's a meaningless involuntary reaction?_ Ryou wondered for the hundredth time, feeling the not uncommon sensation of Marik's own reaction pressed against his hip. It was just another of the many things about Marik that left his mind treading the same circles over and over again. _**Is** it just a meaningless physical reaction? Does it happen when he does this with Tristan or Joey? Does it mean anything at all?_ Ryou asked himself, wishing his questions weren't so horribly inappropriate that he could never ask any of the people who would actually know the answers. For all he knew this was one of those things that happened to everyone, but nobody talked about. Largely lacking in friends before he came to Domino, Ryou had no other experiences to go by.

Ryou forced himself to focus on what he was doing – trying to wrestle Marik to the ground. "I'm not letting you win," he said, falling into the pattern they'd developed. He quickly rolled Marik over so their positions were reversed, his knees on either side of Marik's legs, his hands landing just above Marik's shoulders.

Marik attempted to imitate what Ryou had just done, with less success. He brought his hands up to Ryou's chest, trying to push Ryou over, but Ryou didn't budge. Seeing that it wouldn't work, he wrapped both his arms and legs around Ryou, pulling him down on top of him.

Ryou exhaled in surprise, momentarily uncertain about what to do. No matter how often Marik put them in that exact position, Ryou was thrown off balance by it every time. Marik immediately took advantage of his hesitation, easily flipping him over. He kept his legs firmly wrapped around Ryou's body as he settled on top of him.

Ryou fought down the inconvenient urges this set off inside him, using the sudden rush of energy to renew his struggle against the body above him. Ryou put his hands on Marik's shoulders and used his new-found leverage to slide himself right out from under him, trying desperately to ignore the way their bodies rubbed against each other as he did it. It didn't help that Marik's head ended up fairly low on his stomach.

He was trying to think of a move that wouldn't put Marik's head even lower than that when Marik pounced on him again, this time going after his arms. Ryou quickly grabbed his wrists and rolled him over, pinning his hands to the ground.

Marik seemed to give in then, not really resisting once his hands were pinned.

"Ugh. I guess you win again," Marik said, though he didn't sound especially upset about it. He smiled up at Ryou, blond hair falling across his face.

Ryou smiled back at him, releasing one of Marik's hands and reaching down to brush the hair out of his face. Their eyes met. Ryou saw a perfect opening for a kiss. He could just lean down and press his lips against Marik's. It was now or never.

Just like it had been all the other times he hadn't done it.

The reasons not to do it immediately filled his head. What if Marik didn't want to kiss him? Ryou didn't want to kiss him unless he wanted to be kissed. He didn't even know what Marik thought about two men kissing. What if he was offended? What if he never wanted to touch Ryou ever again? What if he got really angry?

Ryou knew that last one was unlikely. Marik was the most easy-going person he'd ever met. He'd never even seen Marik get angry in all the time they'd known each other. He'd been told what Marik had been like before the Pharaoh had banished his dark side to the Shadow Realm, but he still had trouble imagining it.

Still, being as thoroughly uncertain as he was about Marik's feelings, Ryou couldn't rule it out as a possible reaction. He sighed softly, dropping his hand away from Marik's face.

Marik's smile disappeared, eyes closing in a pained expression. He brought his free hand up and pressed it against his face, cringing. "Ow..."

Ryou let go of Marik's other hand, pulling away. "Another headache?" Marik had been getting headaches all the time lately. Ryou had tried to convince him to see a doctor, but Marik had consistently refused. Ryou shifted backward, preparing to stand. "I'll get you some-"

"No." Marik grabbed his hand to prevent him from getting up. He smiled at Ryou again. "No, it's oka- ah!" He let go of Ryou, putting both hands over his face as he made an agonized sound, his whole body shaking.

Ryou was too surprised to move at first, but then quickly realized he should do something. This was well beyond a normal headache. "I'll call..." Ryou stopped, suddenly noticing that Marik was growing bigger as he shook. _Huh?_

But Marik's hands fell from his face, revealing someone who was definitely _not_ Marik. The man grinned maniacally at him, though Ryou could also see the fury plain on his face.

_No way. It couldn't be... _Ryou backed away in spite of his disbelief, knowing how dangerous Marik's dark side was. He was about to get up and run away when not-Marik tackled him, pinning him to the ground in a twisted echo of what Marik had done earlier. Ryou panicked, hitting back as hard as he could to no avail. He distantly hoped that nothing he did would leave a lasting impact on the real Marik – he'd always hated it when he woke up to find that the spirit possessing him had injured himself while in control of his body – but he knew that if it had been his possessed body attacking someone, he'd have wanted that person to fight back as hard as they possibly could, how ever much it might have injured him.

Not-Marik was utterly unaffected by Ryou's struggle, easily grabbing both of Ryou's hands with one of his and holding them down. Ryou had only an instant to fear what he intended to do before not-Marik _bit_ him hard on the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

Ryou opened his mouth to yell in pain, but nothing came out, the sound freezing in his throat. He was certain the bite had broken skin. He feared he was about to be bitten again, but not-Marik made a small, satisfied sound and collapsed on top of him. He'd shrunken back down to Marik's normal size before Ryou could even push him off.

Marik groaned, lifting his head from where it had fallen on Ryou's shoulder. "Huh? What happened?" he asked. He put a hand to his mouth, then pulled it away and looked at it, eyes widening at the blood he found there. "What happened?" he asked again, voice more noticeably anxious this time.

"You... changed," Ryou said quietly. "And then you... and then he bit me," Ryou added, trying not to make it sound like he blamed Marik for what happened. He'd always hated it when the others had failed to distinguish between things the spirit possessing him had done and things he'd done himself.

One of the reasons he'd gotten along with Marik so well from the beginning, even knowing that he'd been in league with the spirit of the ring, was that Marik had never confused the spirit's actions with Ryou's, something that Yugi and the others had done disturbingly often. It wasn't that they blamed him for the problems the spirit had caused, exactly; though they'd been a little confused about that at first, it wasn't that difficult for them to understand that he wasn't the one running around stealing eyes out people's heads or challenging them to shadow games.

No, the real confusion came from the times the spirit hadn't been doing anything obviously evil, just pretending to be Ryou as he was normally. They'd be talking about some fond memory or other, and someone would prompt him for his part of the story: 'Hey, Bakura! Remember when you...'

And Ryou would force himself not to cringe, put a polite smile on his face, and reply: 'Um, actually...'

Eventually they'd just stopped reminiscing about such things when he was around, anything involving him before the spirit had been destroyed becoming generally off-limits as a topic. Sometimes the taboo seemed to spread beyond that time onto anything that had happened while they were still in high school, as though they weren't quite sure when some things had happened and just didn't want to risk it.

Marik, however, didn't have that problem. He'd known that the spirit was imitating Ryou the entire time they'd been working together. He'd never even properly interacted with Ryou until the spirit was gone. Marik had no trouble distinguishing between things he'd done with the spirit and things he'd done with Ryou, because there was a neat, natural line between them.

Ryou knew it was kind of unfair to hold it against his friends – particularly since the reason for their confusion was that they _hadn't_ been working with the spirit possessing him, while Marik had – but what Marik had done could be forgiven and moved beyond, while what the others did still affected every interaction he had with them.

Either way, Ryou wasn't about to cause Marik the same kind of pain, especially since his other form was so easy to distinguish.

"He bit you?" Marik repeated, sounding horrified. He felt the bite mark on Ryou's neck, as though hoping it wasn't real.

Ryou winced slightly. The area both ached and stung, feeling both like a bruise that came from being hit very hard and a ragged cut or scratch at the same time.

Marik pulled his hand away. "I'm sorry," Marik said, though whether he was apologizing for the bite itself or the pain he'd caused by touching it, Ryou couldn't really tell. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay," Ryou said, sitting up on the floor. He put a hand to the bite, feeling the extent of the damage. He could feel the blood, but he could also tell that it was only coming from a few areas of the bite, so only a few teeth had actually penetrated his skin.

"We need to clean that right now," Marik said, standing up and offering Ryou a hand.

Ryou nodded once, stopping after he felt the pain it caused. He allowed Marik to help him up. They walked to the bathroom, where Marik immediately started unbuttoning Ryou's shirt. Ryou fought his embarrassment. While Marik often didn't have any problem wandering around their apartment with his shirt off, unconcerned even with his scars being seen, Ryou was a little less free about such things. He already had to deal with Marik pouncing on him at random, he didn't need to make things more difficult for himself by adding the possibility of being half-naked at the time.

Of course, attempting to look normal while allowing Marik to undress him was a trial he'd never anticipated having to endure. At least the feeling of Marik's hands repeatedly brushing against his bare chest was distracting him from the pain of the bite.

Once Marik had Ryou's shirt unbuttoned, he put his hand under the fabric near the bite, rubbing Ryou's shoulder as he moved the shirt out of the way. He took a clean washcloth and dampened it with soapy water. He held Ryou's uninjured shoulder with one hand while softly rubbing the cloth against the bite to clean it.

Ryou bit his lip. Why couldn't they be doing this in a less horrible situation?

Marik misinterpreted his response and lifted the cloth away. "Am I hurting you?" he asked, concerned.

Ryou shook his head. "No," he said. "It feels okay."

"I'm sorry," Marik said, running the wash cloth under the faucet to wash out the soap. He wiped the cloth over the bite again, cleaning the soapy water off. "I don't know what happened. It shouldn't even be possible." His eyes focused on the bite as he cleaned it, but they also flickered up to Ryou's face several times, as though he was still expecting Ryou to turn on him.

"I know," Ryou said. He wished Marik wouldn't look at him like that, but he knew all too well what it felt like to be in that position, nervously awaiting his friends' reactions to attacks he hadn't even been properly present for, and he couldn't really blame Marik for it. He patted Marik's hand. "It's not your fault."

Marik's shoulder's relaxed, but he still looked troubled. "Thanks, but that's only so comforting..." he said. He stopped cleaning the wound. "Did he say anything?" Marik asked. "Did it seem like he wanted to continue where he left off?"

Ryou shook his head, a little awkwardly due to the bite. "No, he didn't say anything, and he didn't seem to be thinking about anything other than attacking me," Ryou said. "And anyway, the Pharaoh and the items are gone," he added quickly, after seeing the pain flash across Marik's face. "Wouldn't that mean he couldn't use shadow magic anymore?"

"I don't know," Marik said, setting the cloth down on the sink and getting a towel to pat Ryou dry. "I thought so, but I also thought there was no way he could get back from the Shadow Realm..."

"All he did was bite me," Ryou said. "If he still had that kind of power, wouldn't he have used it?"

"Not everything he did involved shadow magic," Marik said, still visibly alarmed. He took a few band-aids and started covering the bite with them.

"That's true," Ryou said, wondering if he should be worried about Marik's dark side trying to kill him. A bite was just a bite, but Marik's other self didn't sound like someone who'd leave it at that, and he _had_ already killed in the past. "Do you have any idea why he'd want to bite me?" Ryou asked, hoping there was some way to avoid triggering Marik's dark side again.

Marik shook his head. "No idea. He never really bit people before. And I don't know why he would attack you specifically, other than because you happened to be there. It's not like you did anything to me." Now finished with patching Ryou up, he grabbed his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth.

"Maybe he thought I was the one attacking you," Ryou said, remembering that he'd had Marik pinned down when his headache started. "Or he was just angry about the position I had you in." Ryou had the sudden uncomfortable thought that Marik's dark side might have noticed his feelings where Marik himself hadn't and was pissed off for that reason. Ryou had no idea what to do if that was the case.

Marik spit the toothpaste out and rinsed his mouth with water, then shook his head. "He knows how I feel. He would have known that I was enjoying myself." Marik frowned. "It's more likely that he just wanted to show me he's here."

"Maybe..." Ryou said, not having enough knowledge of Marik's dark side to really speculate about his true motives. For all Ryou knew, he was secretly a vampire. "It... it seemed like he actually did want to bite me, though," Ryou added, not really wanting to give Marik more reason to be upset, but not wanting them to waste time going in the wrong direction, either.

Marik shuddered. "He's just like that," Marik said. He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning against the sink. "I... I don't know what to do," he said, more quietly than Ryou ever heard him say anything. "I thought he was _gone_."

Ryou put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't have any useful advice – he hadn't been exactly adept at keeping himself from being possessed. He'd been able to fight it in some of the worst situations, just like Marik had eventually, but he didn't even know if it was even possible outside of a shadow game. "Yugi's still coming over later. Maybe he'll have an idea."

Marik perked up a little at that. "Yeah," he said. "He'll know what to do." His voice had far more confidence than Ryou was feeling.

After Yugi had won his game against the Pharaoh, he'd taken on a higher status in Marik's eyes. Marik's gratitude, having lost its original target, had shifted onto Yugi, as though _he_ had been the one to send Marik's dark side to the Shadow Realm. He didn't roughhouse with Yugi the way he did with the others, and he often asked Yugi for advice about things he considered important. Yugi hadn't realized how much weight Marik gave his opinion at first, but he'd gotten very uncomfortable when he eventually noticed.

It made Ryou feel a little guilty about pointing Marik to him now, but it had given his friend some reassurance. Perhaps Yugi really would hold the answer, or could at least get Marik to give his own answer to the problem.

"Um. Before..." Ryou struggled to find an inoffensive way to continue his statement. "Before we got distracted, I was going to ask if you wanted to start studying...?"

Marik blinked, then let out a short, uneasy laugh. "Right..." He rubbed his face. "Right. Midterms."

"Are you alright?" Ryou asked, concerned by the weary expression on Marik's face. He wondered if it was just the emotional effect of having his worst nightmare return, or if the physical transformation had strained his body as well. "Do you want to... lie down, maybe?"

"No..." Marik said. His voice grew firmer. "No, I'm okay for now. I'd rather study. It'll be better not to obsess over it while waiting for Yugi to get here."

"That's true," Ryou agreed, not particularly wanting to think about it himself if he didn't have to. "My books are already on the coffee table," he added, walking back out into the living room.

Marik followed him. "I'll get my stuff," he said. He left the room for about a minute, returning with his bag in hand. The two quickly got to work.

* * *

Yugi knocked on their door about an hour after they'd gotten down to business. Ryou and Marik stared at each other for one long moment before standing, both suddenly reminded of what they'd managed to forget for the short period they'd been absorbed in studying.

Yugi knocked on the door again. "Uh... guys? Are you in there?"

"Yeah," Marik said, rushing over to open the door. "Yeah, we're here. How did you get up here?" he asked.

"Someone propped the front door open again," Yugi said as he walked in and took off his coat. "You should really..." Yugi noticed the intense looks both Marik and Ryou were giving him. "Um. What's going on?" he asked, looking at the bandages on Ryou's neck curiously.

Marik closed the door. He said nothing for a moment, then glanced at Ryou.

"Do you want me to tell him?" Ryou asked. "You weren't even really there..."

Marik looked like he was going to turn down the offer at first, but then changed his mind. "Yeah. You know what happened better than I do."

"We should all sit down first," Ryou said, returning to his seat on the couch. Yugi joined him there, while Marik took a spot on the floor next to the coffee table.

"So, what happened?" Yugi asked.

"Well," Ryou began, "It was was fairly normal at first..." He gave a quick account of what had happened.

Yugi let him finish with barely any interruptions, seeming too shocked by what had happened to even think of it at first. Marik had watched Yugi's face the whole time, practically ignoring Ryou as he spoke in favor of focusing on Yugi's reaction.

"You're sure it was him?" Yugi asked. At Ryou's nod, he turned to Marik. "And you don't remember any of it?"

Marik shook his head. "Nothing."

Yugi frowned. "What's the last thing you do remember?" he asked.

Ryou was surprised by the question, but he supposed it was logical enough; whatever Marik remembered last might be whatever caused his dark side to force his way out.

Marik stared at the ground, concentrating. "Um... it's a little fuzzy," he said. "I remember everything up until the headache started, but I don't remember saying anything after it started."

"He was probably already taking over at that point," Ryou said.

"Yeah," Marik agreed, looking a little sick. "I used to get headaches like that a lot when he was still around," he added, not looking at Ryou.

Ryou thought he knew why, too. Marik had never mentioned that part to him before. His instance on not seeing a doctor about his recent bout of headaches and not wanting to worry anyone else with the problem were starting to make sense. Ryou didn't say anything, however; he'd ignored signs of far worse when he himself had been possessed, so he didn't feel in much of a position to judge anyone about such things.

"And before the headache started, you two were just talking?" Yugi asked.

Marik nodded. "We'd already stopped messing around," he said. "So it wasn't that."

"I don't know about that," Yugi said. He tapped his finger against his head absently. "If it took him time to get out, he could have been reacting to anything that happened before then, couldn't he?"

"Maybe," Marik said, looking uncomfortable. "I don't know what it could be, though. There hasn't been anything like what caused him to come out before."

"Well, he came out before when you were upset, right?" Yugi said. "Did you two have a fight recently?" he asked.

Marik shook his head. "We've never had a fight."

Yugi looked surprised. "Really?" He scratched his chin. "I really don't know, then. We don't have much information yet."

Marik cringed slightly on the 'yet', but soon recovered. "Hopefully, we'll never need to know..." he said, not sounding especially confident.

"Look at it this way," Yugi said. "He only stayed for a minute or so, right? So either he's not strong enough to stay for long, or he just doesn't want to. I don't think there's any immediate danger."

"You mean, we have time to figure it out," Ryou said. He hoped Yugi was right. He didn't like possibly being in danger from Marik's dark side, but he wasn't about to abandon his friend, either.

"He _was_ limited at first," Marik said, looking the calmest he'd been since the incident. "It took time for him to build up to where he was last time."

"We'll just have to stop it from ever getting that far this time," Ryou said. He didn't know how they'd do that, exactly, but if there was a way, he was determined to find it.

"Yeah," Yugi said, looking just as determined. "And you shouldn't let him interfere with your life in the mean time."

"You mean, I should keep studying?" Marik asked, staring at the books on the table with more genuine interest than Ryou had ever seen him give anything school-related.

Yugi nodded, taking his own notebook out of his bag. "No time like the present," he said.

* * *

By the time Yugi left, they were all completely sick of studying. "I don't ever want to see another textbook again," Marik said, stretching out his arms.

"I don't either," Ryou replied, gathering his into a neat pile and putting them into his bag.

Marik paused for a moment, scanning Ryou's face for... something. Ryou looked back at him curiously. Marik crossed his arms, then uncrossed them again. "Um. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about the headaches. I didn't want to think about what it might mean."

"It's okay," Ryou said.

"It really isn't," Marik said. "But thanks."

A silence fell on the room. Ryou remembered more of the conversation they'd had with Yugi, and something stuck out in his mind. "Is... _is_ there anything I've done to make you upset before?" Ryou asked. He didn't like having to ask, but what Yugi had said made a certain amount of sense. Too much sense to simply ignore without exploring further. "Even if it doesn't seem like something _he_ would care about, it might be important."

"No, there's nothing," Marik said immediately.

_You didn't even think about it,_ Ryou thought skeptically. "Nothing? Not in the whole two years we've known each other?" he asked doubtfully. He did his best to be polite to everyone, but that had never really stopped people from getting angry with him. He'd managed to anger some people just by being physically present – in fact, it had been a common occurrence before he'd come to Domino.

Marik paused before responding, actually seeming to give the question some consideration this time. "No, there's really nothing," he finally replied. "Why? Did I do something to you?"

"Not since we became friends," Ryou assured him. "What about the time I ruined your favorite shirt?" he asked, grasping at the only thing he could think of.

Marik shrugged. "It was an accident. And _he_ never really liked my clothes, so I don't think he'd attack you over it."

From what Ryou remembered, Marik had been just as unconcerned about the incident when it had happened. Ryou had been the one to get upset about it, apologizing profusely until Marik had made him stop. "Um. Does anyone else annoy you?" Ryou asked, just hoping to find _anything_ at this point.

Marik shook his head, though Ryou thought he looked just a hint less certain about it.

_Maybe it's because I'm starting to annoy him right now,_ Ryou thought, feeling incredibly but pressing on anyway. "Ishizu? Odion?" he asked. Everyone got annoyed with their siblings every once in a while. Even he remembered arguing with his sister on occasion before she'd died, and they'd barely been old enough to even have anything to argue about. And given the way Marik had jumped at the chance to move out of their shared home when starting college, Ryou knew there had to be something.

"No..." Marik said, a little more slowly this time.

Ryou was starting to wonder if he might just not want to talk about it, though he couldn't see Marik actively lying about something that could help against his dark side, particularly after what had happened when he ignored the headaches. "Yugi?" Ryou asked, then thought of a better example. "Joey," he said, thinking of the confrontational way Joey had treated Marik just after he'd moved to Domino. He'd been mostly fine with Marik in Egypt, but having Marik come back to his town and try and become friends with everyone had been too much for him. The way he'd acted in those first few weeks would have tried the patience of a saint, however well Marik had handled it on the outside.

"Um... I... I don't know," Marik said softly. "He..." Marik's face went completely blank, as though every thought in his head had shut down. His eyes stared out at nothing.

"Ah..." Ryou suddenly felt terrible. He'd seen Marik react this way to certain things a few times before, but he'd never caused it himself. _I shouldn't have put so much pressure on him,_ Ryou thought. _Not after what happened today._ He put a hand on Marik's arm, shaking him gently. "Marik..."

Marik shook his head, then blinked at Ryou. "Sorry... what were we talking about again?"

"Er..." Ryou wasn't so sure he should tell him. "Nothing," he said. "Don't worry about it."

Marik blinked a few more times. "Um. Okay," he said, sounding slightly confused. He yawned. "I'm going to bed," he added, shuffling off to his room.

"Good night," Ryou said. He headed off to his own room, knowing that he'd be spending a lot of time thinking before falling asleep.

He was still disturbed by the incident earlier, but somehow the conversation they'd just had unsettled him even more...


	2. Murky Objectives

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 2)– Murky Objectives  
**Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

The week following the incident was hectic, but for completely mundane reasons. Ryou and Marik had a variety of tests and projects in nearly every class, which kept them busy the whole time. Marik had thrown himself into his work completely, surprising everyone with how well he did – and also angering a few when he threw off the curve.

Ryou had done pretty much the same as he always did, higher in some classes than in others, but overall fairly well – in the classes that had graded the tests already, at least.

Marik hadn't said anything about the event since it happened, but his behavior had changed. He hadn't pounced on Ryou all week, though whether it was because he thought it might draw his dark side out or because he thought Ryou wouldn't want him to after what happened, Ryou wasn't sure. Ryou was starting to miss it more and more as the days passed.

Marik had been leaving the others alone as well, and they were starting to notice something was off. Marik had asked Ryou and Yugi not to say anything to anyone about what happened, though he'd seemed more concerned about Ishizu and Odion finding out than anyone else. Yugi had agreed reluctantly, clearly not happy with keeping secrets, but Ryou had agreed far more readily. He was used to secrets.

Thus far they'd been able to keep this particular one under wraps fairly easily, though that was mostly because there hadn't been much opportunity to reveal it.

It was Saturday now, and Ryou was hoping for a nice, peaceful weekend after the chaos of the preceding week. He slept late to make up for lost sleep the previous week, though he'd awoken briefly earlier that morning to the sound of Marik wandering around the apartment.

He slid out of bed sometime before noon, not wanting the entire weekend to pass him by while he dozed. He made his bed, then picked out some clothes to wear. He rid himself of his pajamas and quickly slipped into his underwear, knowing that Marik often had the unfortunate habit of–

"Good morning!"

–bursting into his room without so much as a knock. The bathroom door had a lock on it, but neither of the bedrooms did. Ryou counted himself lucky that he'd even had his underwear on this time. He was _still_ embarrassed by the last time Marik had walked in on him naked.

Marik, for his part, hadn't seemed to care. 'We're both guys,' he'd said when he'd seen Ryou turn bright red. 'It's not like I saw anything new.'

'Y-yeah,' Ryou had replied, unable to explain why it had affected him so much. He'd thrown some clothes on before he could think too hard about being naked in a room with Marik in it, or have an unfortunate visible reaction to the situation.

Things weren't so urgent this time. "Good morning," he said, putting on his jeans.

Marik jumped onto Ryou's bed and landed with a bounce. "What're you doing today?" he asked.

"I haven't decided yet," Ryou said, suppressing a yawn. "Not studying, though," he added.

Marik made a face. "Definitely not studying." He bounced on the bed again, then stood up. "We should go somewhere," he said, slinging an arm over Ryou's bare shoulder.

Ryou took a deep breath, forcing himself to act normal. There was nothing strange about having an arm over his shoulder, even if it was Marik's arm, and he was shirtless. He being Ryou, of course, because Marik actually wasn't shirtless just then. Not that Ryou was thinking about Marik being shirtless, or both of them being shirtless, or both of them touching each other while being shirtless. No, that wasn't even–

"Bakura?" Marik poked Ryou's side, startling him.

"Um. R-right," Ryou said, voice a little rough. He cleared his throat. "Where do you want to go?" he asked, disentangling himself from Marik and picking up his shirt.

"I don't know," Marik said. He stared at Ryou for a moment, thinking. Ryou slid his shirt on and started buttoning it up, waiting for his response.

Marik clapped his hands together, having a sudden inspiration. "We could go swimming."

Ryou finished the top button and stared at him, wondering why he'd thought of that before anything else. "Isn't it a little cold for that?" he asked. It was something of an understatement. Not only was it the middle of October, it was the middle of an unseasonably cold October, the worst Domino City had seen in some time. The local weather man had even predicted snow for next week.

"We could go to an indoor pool," Marik said. "There probably wouldn't be very many people."

_That's certainly true..._ Ryou thought. "Maybe another time," he said, knowing Marik probably wouldn't go long without asking him again. Marik hadn't ever been swimming before he came to Domino, and the rest of the group had taken turns showing him how. Ryou couldn't say any of them had been _good_ teachers, exactly (he included himself in that assessment), but between the five of them, they'd managed to keep him from drowning. Marik had gotten the hang of it eventually, though he still seemed to have more fun _splashing_ than actually swimming. "It's less fun inside," Ryou said, knowing that Marik would find it a convincing argument.

Marik nodded. "We can't roll around or make sandcastles," he said. "We could go for a motorcycle ride," he suggested.

"Not today," Ryou said, knowing that whenever Marik wanted to 'go for a motorcycle ride', they were likely to end up lost somewhere a hundred or more miles away after Marik convinced him of the need to 'see what's out there'. Marik always managed it, too. Once Ryou became overwhelmed by the terror and joy of zooming around at break-neck speeds with nothing but Marik to cling to, his sense of good judgment... weakened a little.

He'd almost been too terrified to even get on the thing with Marik at first, but if he'd refused Marik's offer of a daily ride to Domino University, he'd have been left with no easy way of getting there. His father had chosen the apartment based on cost, not location.

"I'm too worn out to do anything that exciting," Ryou said. "We could go to the game shop. Yugi will be there. We still have to think about classes for next semester."

"We have _weeks_ to do that," Marik said. "But we could always just visit."

* * *

The game shop looked pretty much the same as it did every other time they visited. Gaming posters on the walls, models and board games lining the shelves, cards under the glass counter at the back. Yugi was sitting behind the cash register, studying Duel Monsters cards with Joey over the counter.

The bell clanged as they walked inside, making Yugi and Joey look up. "Hey guys," Yugi said.

"So how's school treating ya?" Joey asked.

He and Téa had been the only two in the group not to go on to college. Téa had gone to New York to attend a dancing school, Tristan had gone to another university, and Joey had started playing professional Duel Monsters. He still had yet to beat Yugi, but since Yugi was too busy with college to attend most tournaments, it didn't really matter. Between the prize money he won at smaller tournaments and a part time job at the game shop, Joey made enough to keep himself going.

"Ugh," Marik said, taking a seat next to Yugi behind the counter. "Don't ask."

Ryou pulled up a chair next to Joey. "Midterms," he explained.

"Yeah, Yugi told me you guys had a lot of tests this week," Joey said. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms out. "I am so glad I don't have to deal with any of that anymore."

"Have you picked your classes yet?" Yugi asked.

"Not yet," Marik said, frowning. "We can't officially register until the students ahead of us are done, anyway."

Yugi shrugged. "Still... I've picked most of mine already. I want to start on real archeology classes."

"Already?" Ryou said. It felt too soon for him to be doing that. Neither Ryou nor Marik had even decided what they wanted to study. They'd stuck to the general classes required for everyone for their first semester. All Ryou knew was that he didn't want to study archeology. His father had asked him if he intended to follow in his footsteps, but he'd seemed relieved, not disappointed when Ryou had said no.

Yugi nodded. "There are some really interesting ones! I'm going to take a class on Ancient Egyptian religion if I can get in."

Marik twitched almost unnoticeably. "That's nice," he said vaguely. He shook his head, then smiled. The smile looked a little weak to Ryou, but nobody else seemed to find anything odd about it. "I could help you study, if you want." His shoulders tensed.

Yugi shook his head. "No, I would need to do the work myself. It would be too easy to depend on you for everything."

Marik's shoulders relaxed. "Yeah, it's probably better that way." He smiled again, genuinely this time.

Joey wagged a finger at them disappointedly. "I still don't know how the three of you can be in college, and only be thinking about classes."

Yugi put a hand over his eyes. "Joey..." he said. They all knew where this was going.

"No, listen," Joey said. "You're surrounded by girls." He turned to Ryou. "If things are anything like high school, they're probably all over y– hey, what's that?" He grabbed Ryou's collar, pulling it aside to fully reveal the healed bite mark. Joey grinned. "When did you get this?"

"Er. Last w-week," Ryou stammered, too surprised to lie. Not that lying about the time frame would really help. He looked around. Marik had gone completely still in his chair, hands clenched into fists in his lap. He glanced at Ryou, then looked down at the floor. Yugi was watching him intently, as though curious about what he would say.

Joey was too focused on the bite to notice any of this. "Where'd you get it? Was she cute?"

"Um. Y-yeah?" Ryou said, figuring it was probably the expected answer. He wanted to see Marik's reaction, but he knew looking at Marik just then would be giving away the truth about who'd done it, in a way, even if Joey didn't pick up on it. If nothing else, he might think Marik had more information and ask him about it.

"C'mon, you have to give more details than that," Joey said.

"He doesn't have to talk about it if he doesn't want to," Yugi said.

Ryou looked at him gratefully. "I'd rather not talk about it," he said. "We're not really... together, or anything."

Joey's eagerness didn't diminish any. "All the more reason to..."

"Didn't you want to play Duel Monsters?" Yugi asked him.

Joey's attention was suddenly fully diverted. "A real game?" he asked. "Of course!" He turned to Ryou. "He hasn't wanted to play _all week_."

"I've wanted to play, I've just been too busy," Yugi said. "I have time now."

"Excuses, excuses," Joey said, waving a hand dismissively. "You're so out of practice I'll beat you in under five minutes."

That got a laugh out of everyone, including Marik, who now showed no signs of the discomfort he'd felt earlier. "This I have to see," he said.

* * *

One game had turned into several games, all of which Joey had lost. He'd held out a little longer each time, though, and afterwards Yugi had said that he was improving. Marik and Ryou had headed home after dinner, having had enough Duel Monsters for one day.

When they went inside the apartment, they found a sauna waiting for them. "Ah, wow..." Ryou said. He'd been about to close the door, but he decided to leave it open instead. "Did you turn the heat up?" he asked Marik. They'd disagreed about how warm the apartment needed to be in the past, but even Marik hadn't ever thought it should be quite that hot.

"A little," Marik said. "Not this much, though." He walked over to the thermostat and turned it down. "I must have accidentally set it too high."

"I didn't know it could go this high," Ryou said, sticking his head out the door to cool off. When he came back inside, he saw Marik taking his shirt off.

"It's going to be hot in here for a while," Marik said.

Ryou tried not to stare. "I'll go open the kitchen window," he said. The other windows in the apartment had already been sealed for the winter – they'd done it in the hopes of a lower heating bill. Ryou sighed. He went to the kitchen to open the window, then went back to the living room.

Marik was sitting on the couch, already changed into shorts. "Aren't you hot in that?" he asked.

"I'm fine" Ryou said. His summer clothes were already packed away. He probably had something lighter than what he was wearing somewhere in his dresser, but it felt too hot to bother looking.

"I'll get something to drink," Marik said. He disappeared into the kitchen, then reappeared with two glasses filled with ice water. "Here you– ack!" he tripped over a spot on the floor, sending the water flying all over Ryou.

Ryou was silent with shock for a moment, then let out a little squeak. He shivered, shaking the ice off himself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that," Marik said, putting the glasses on the table and helping him brush off the ice. "Here, I'll take care of this. You should probably take that off..."

"I think I'll leave it on," Ryou said, the shock starting to wear off. "It feels nice," he added. The ice-cold water was now merely cold water, and the damp fabric of his shirt felt pleasantly cool in the hot apartment. "It's probably a good thing you spilled it on me, actually."

Marik snickered. "At least some good came of it, I guess." He plunked the ice cubes back into one of the glasses, then carried the whole thing back to the kitchen. "I'll get something else, then we can watch TV," he said.

"Good idea," Ryou said, happy with anything that didn't involve moving around in the heat.

* * *

They'd watched an entire movie and were half-way through another one by the time the temperature had gotten down to an endurable level. They closed the door, but left the window open. Ryou's shirt had long since dried off. He had lain on the couch while Marik took a spot on the floor in front of it.

Marik had been glancing at him more and more often as they watched the movie, his body filled with the restless energy that in the past would have guaranteed a scuffle on the floor of their apartment. Ryou wondered if Marik would give in and return to his favorite game, or if he would continue to hold out.

Ryou hoped he would give in.

It seemed like his hope was not to be, however. They made it through the rest of the movie without Marik so much as touching him.

Ryou handed Marik the remote when the movie ended. "I'm going to bed," he said, looking forward to more sleep. He patted Marik on the shoulder, then stood up.

Marik stood as well, turning the TV off. He turned to Ryou, looking nothing if not ready to pounce.

Ryou prepared himself for a sudden tackle, but nothing came.

Marik frowned, then shook his head, setting the remote down on the table. He took a deep breath, then doubled over, face in his hands.

"Marik?" Ryou asked, already fearing the worst.

"G-get away," Marik said desperately. "I have a headache..."

Ryou immediately retreated behind the couch. He knew he should probably go farther, but he didn't feel like he could just leave Marik behind, suffering who knew what fate at the hands of his dark side.

"No..." Marik said. "You–"

Whatever he'd intended to say was cut off as his form nearly doubled in size. Ryou took a step back, ready to run if necessary.

Marik's dark side stood tall, grinning at him horribly. He moved his head in a circle, then shook his shoulders as though warming up.

"W-what do you want?" Ryou asked. He'd never been happier to own a couch than he was at that moment.

"What do you _think_ I want?" not-Marik replied scornfully. "I want to hurt you." He stalked around the side of couch.

Ryou quickly headed in the other direction, unwilling to give up the barrier between them. "Why?" Ryou asked. He'd been wondering all week why Marik's dark side had attacked him, though this wasn't the way he'd hoped to find out the answer.

Not-Marik shrugged. "Because I want to."

"That's not a real reason," Ryou said. He knew his objection was unlikely to change not-Marik's mind, but he felt the need to say it anyway.

"You want me to make something up?" not-Marik asked him. "The way _he_ does?"

It took Ryou a moment to figure out what he meant. "Marik doesn't invent reasons to do things," he protested. "And definitely not to hurt people."

Not-Marik laughed. It was a violent, sickening sound. "_Especially_ to hurt people," he said. "But other things, too." He moved from side to side, switching directions whenever Ryou did.

Ryou was starting to wonder if he should just try to maintain his position, when not-Marik leapt right over the couch and pinned him to the ground. He grabbed Ryou's wrists before Ryou could even think of recovering, slamming them to the floor. They didn't feel broken, thankfully, but Ryou was sure they would bruise.

Ryou struggled against the hand pinning him to no avail. _How can he be so strong?_

His fight wasn't even enough to annoy Marik's dark side. If anything, he seemed to think it was funny. "Heh. So pathetic. Even my weaker half could hold you down." He grabbed the collar of Ryou's shirt with his free hand.

"Not easily," Ryou said, attempting to slam his knee into not-Marik's weaker areas. He didn't care if someone thought he was weaker than Marik, but the inaccuracy of not-Marik's statement left Ryou wondering exactly how much of Marik's experiences the darker part even had access to.

Not-Marik grunted when the knee hit him, but otherwise didn't react. "More easily than you think," he said. "He just never does it. Wants everyone to see how _harmless_ he is." He pressed down hard on Ryou's wrists to emphasize the word.

"Oh," Ryou said, mind spinning too much for him to even think of arguing. _Does Marik really think that way?_

Not-Marik didn't give him much time to ponder the question. He yanked on the collar of Ryou's shirt with more force than any normal human could muster.

"H-hey!" Ryou said, partly in confusion at what he was doing, but also in pain from the sudden, rough movement of the fabric against his skin. It wasn't as bad as a rug burn on rough carpet, but he knew it would probably leave a red spot on his neck near the newly-healed bite mark.

It seemed like a bizarre method to go about hurting him, but then, it didn't even seem like that was the point at the moment. If anything, not-Marik seemed more intent on hurting his shirt than him. He yanked the collar again, growling in frustration when it didn't accomplish whatever he'd intended. He let go of the collar and grabbed the front of Ryou's shirt instead. He ripped the shirt open with one hand, scraping his surprisingly sharp nails against Ryou's chest. Buttons flew everywhere.

Ryou winced at the scratches, though he could tell they weren't very deep. He didn't say anything this time, feeling that it was better to have not-Marik's attention on his shirt than on him.

Not-Marik made a pleased sound, then tore both sides of the shirt right off his body, splitting the fabric at the seams. He grabbed the tail of what was left of Ryou's shirt, then ripped it right from under him, leaving him in nothing but the sleeves.

Ryou's back felt like it was on fire, but it was nothing compared to some of the more serious injuries he'd suffered in the past. He stared at not-Marik, starting to feel more puzzled than afraid.

Not-Marik attempted to tear one sleeve off of him, snarling when he couldn't manage it with one hand. Ryou's fear returned full force when not-Marik opened his mouth, clearly intending to bite, but the fear dissipated a little when not-Marik bit his sleeve instead of his neck. Holding the sleeve in place with his teeth, not-Marik now had no trouble ripping the fabric along the seam. He made short work of both sleeves, leaving Ryou completely shirtless. The scraps of fabric lay scattered all over the floor where not-Marik had flung them.

Ryou stared up at not-Marik, unable to think anything beyond '_What now?_'

But not-Marik didn't seem to know either. He looked Ryou over disinterestedly, as though he hadn't planned any further than tearing Ryou's shirt to shreds. _He probably hasn__'t__,_ Ryou realized. _He probably couldn't even tell me why he did it in the first place_.

Not-Marik glared at Ryou, seeming displeased by something he saw in his expression. He made an irritated sound, swiped his sharp fingernails across Ryou's stomach, and then collapsed on top of him, shrinking down to Marik's normal size.

_Ow! _Ryou cringed at suddenly having his sore back shoved down into the wooden floor, but quickly recovered. He tilted the head on his chest upward to verify the identity, then hugged Marik as though he hadn't seen him in decades.

It took Marik a few moments to respond. His eyes didn't open at first, but his head moved on Ryou's chest, showing signs of life, if not wakefulness. He shifted his weight downward, as though he'd just found a nice, warm pillow to sleep on and was settling in for a long nap.

In any other situation, Ryou would have been thrilled (if nervous) to been in their current position, but the whole thing was soured by the events preceding it. He shook Marik's shoulder gently. "Marik," he said.

"Huh?" Marik said groggily, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He propped himself up on one arm, looking Ryou over in confusion. "Am I dreaming?" he asked.

"I'm afraid not," Ryou said.

Marik's eyes blinked a few times, then widened. "_Him_, again?" he asked, taking in the scene with a new understanding. He picked up a scrap of Ryou's shirt from the floor, then dropped it again. He looked at the scratches on Ryou's stomach with a pained expression. "How much did he hurt you?" he asked quietly.

"Not much," Ryou said. "He, uh, only really seemed to want the shirt."

"The shirt?" Marik asked, clearly bewildered. He picked up another piece of fabric and stared at it as though trying to figure out what his dark side could possibly have wanted with it.

"Yeah," Ryou said. "He only hurt me indirectly, while trying to get at it. Except for that," Ryou pointed at the scratch on his stomach.

"So... A scratch on your stomach, some more over here," Marik brushed a finger over the small cuts on Ryou's chest. "A mark on your neck," he continued, sounding more depressed as the list got longer. "Your wrists..." he added, tracing the red marks from where not-Marik's hand had gripped them. "Anything else?"

"My back," Ryou said.

Marik froze for a moment before responding. "What did he do to your back?" he asked, sliding off of Ryou to sit on the floor next to him.

Ryou sat up and turned slightly to show him. "It happened when he tore the back off my shirt."

Marik looked like he'd suddenly regained the ability to breathe. "Right," he said, closing his eyes for a moment in relief. "Right. Like you said, he only wanted the shirt..." He looked at the shirt piece again, then shook his head. "You need to be patched up," he said. "We have band-aids for the scratches, but I'm not sure what to do about your back."

Ryou stood up. "I have aloe in the fridge," he said. "And more in the bathroom, if I'm out of that." Ryou's pale skin sunburned so easily that he kept a large supply of both aloe and sunscreen stocked up at all times. The burning sensation on his back may not have actually been a sunburn, but it certainly felt like one. He turned toward the kitchen.

Marik stopped him. "You sit down," he said. "I'll get it."

Ryou nodded, sitting down on the couch.

Marik stopped in both the kitchen and the bathroom, returning with both the aloe and various first aid supplies. He sat down on the couch next to Ryou, cleaning the scratches and then putting band-aids on them. "I'm really sorry," he said, eyes averted. "I wish I could even give a reason why this happened, but there's just nothing..."

"Maybe he really _was_ angry about the shirt I ruined?" Ryou said. He didn't have much confidence in that explanation, but it was the only thing he could think of that related to what had just happened.

"And he did this as revenge?" Marik asked, not sounding like he bought it either. He rubbed the cool aloe on Ryou's neck. "I guess it's possible, but I still can't see him caring about it. Did he say anything?" He gestured for Ryou to turn around.

Ryou shifted around so Marik had access to his back. "Um," he started, remembering all the things Marik's dark side _had_ said. "He said he didn't have a reason for anything he did." Ryou fell silent, unsure he should bring up what Marik's dark side had said about Marik himself. _Does it really matter whether he loses at wrestling on purpose? Can I really believe what his dark side has to say, anyway? How could he know what Marik's reasons for doing things are, when he doesn't even know why he does things himself?_

"Is that everything?" Marik asked, not seeming to expect anything else. He slathered aloe onto Ryou's back.

"Basically everything," Ryou said. He sighed in relief when he felt the cool aloe spread over his back.

"Feeling any better?" Marik asked hopefully.

"Much better," Ryou said. It was true, too. He could already tell that his skin was less damaged than it would have been with a sunburn, just based on how effective the aloe had been.

"Good," Marik said, rubbing Ryou's shoulder affectionately. "Listen..."

Ryou turned to face him, concerned by the sadness he heard in Marik's voice. "What is it?"

"If you want me to move out, I will," Marik said, not looking at Ryou's face. He tried to smile. "It's okay."

_It's not okay!_ Ryou shook his head frantically. "I don't want you to move out." He tried not to feel like Marik was abandoning him, since that wasn't the point, but the prospect of having the closest friend he'd ever had move out and leave him once again to a lonely, empty apartment disturbed him far more than the thought of Marik's dark side attacking him again.

"What if _he_ comes out again?" Marik asked.

"I don't care," Ryou said adamantly, before realizing his statement could be taken the wrong way. "Er, I don't mean that I don't care about-"

"I get what you meant," Marik said. "Are you sure, though?"

"I'm sure," Ryou said.

"Thanks," Marik said, squeezing Ryou's hand. "Be sure to sleep on your stomach tonight."

Ryou nodded. "I'll do that," he said. "Good night," he added, heading to his room. He put on his pajama bottoms, but forewent the top for the night. He positioned himself on his stomach, just as Marik had advised. He hoped he wouldn't roll over during the night.

The current crisis was over, but Ryou knew it wasn't the end. Marik's dark side had shown up twice in the span of week now, and Ryou doubted the destruction of a shirt would be satisfying enough to keep him away. He also knew that if things got too dangerous, Marik would likely move out no matter how much he protested.

One thing was clear: if he wanted to hold onto his friendship with Marik, and if he wanted to stop his friend from falling apart, Ryou would need to figure out why his dark side had returned, and how to get rid of him.


	3. Random And Not So Random Choices

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 3) – Random And Not-So-Random Choices**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Over the course of the next week and a half or so, Ryou had lost more shirts than he cared to count. It seemed like he could barely put one on before Marik's dark side showed up and ripped it off him again. It had only happened while they were alone at home, but that still left a large window of opportunity.

_Is it that he doesn't want to appear in front of anyone else?_ Ryou had wondered repeatedly. _Or is it that he **really** doesn't want me wearing a shirt while we're in the apartment?_ The former seemed far more likely – appearing with multiple people around would mean greater resistance. He hadn't appeared once while someone else had been present.

Ryou had quickly stopped wearing his normal shirts, realizing that at the rate things were going, he'd lose every shirt he owned by the end of the month. He'd bought a pack of cheap t-shirts, figuring it wouldn't really matter if they were all destroyed.

Of course, his new strategy for dealing with Marik's dark side made that a little less likely. A few days after Marik's dark side had started his anti-shirt crusade, Ryou had tugged his shirt off himself while Marik had been transforming, throwing it at not-Marik when he appeared. 'Here,' he'd said, holding his hands in the air. 'Just take it. You can have it.'

Not-Marik had grunted at him, looking from him to the shirt as though he had no idea what to do when faced with Ryou's cooperation. He'd made a few rips in the shirt, but left it mostly intact, throwing it to the floor in anger. Ryou had wondered if Marik's dark side would leave him alone then, since he seemed to have gotten what he wanted, but apparently not-Marik didn't consider his day complete without giving Ryou a few scratches.

Given the things Marik's dark side had done before the Pharaoh had banished him to the Shadow Realm, Ryou considered himself lucky to get away with only a few scrapes. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but it felt like the scratches were decreasing in severity while increasing in number, as though not-Marik was more concerned with leaving claw marks all over his body than with doing serious damage.

Marik tried to hide it, but Ryou could see how worried the whole thing was making him. His dark side was appearing far too frequently for comfort, however mild his actions had been so far. Marik apologized desperately after every incident, and had insisted on paying for all the shirts that his dark side had destroyed. Ryou had made an initial protest, but not really tried to stop him – he knew how much worse it felt to not have any way of making up for something like this.

Marik also made up for it by tending to Ryou's wounds with a level of care and attention Ryou couldn't remember receiving from anyone before. Though, Ryou was admittedly a little biased, and his mind may have been exaggerating the length of time Marik's hands lingered on his body. It felt good – Ryou had been disturbed to find himself almost happy to see Marik's dark side appear, just because he knew what would follow afterward. He felt like a traitor for even thinking it.

After their last class on Wednesday, Ryou decided to head for the library instead of going home. "I can take the bus home," he told Marik.

"Don't worry about it," Marik said, following him down the path. "I can give you a ride. I'd just be studying at home, anyway." To Ryou's surprise, Marik had actually maintained his commitment to studying even after midterms were over. Not at the same half-crazed level of intensity he'd had during midterms, but he had consistently put time aside after class just for doing homework and reviewing. He'd even started working on assignments that weren't due for weeks, instead of leaving them until the last moment.

Ryou's own study habits had improved because of it, mostly because he didn't want to be less consistent about his schoolwork than _Marik_, of all people.

"Okay," Ryou said. "If you really don't mind coming with me..." He would have preferred going on his own in this case – he was actually intending to read up on multiple personalities, not to study. He didn't want Marik to know what he was doing, but he also didn't want to alert Marik to that fact by acting strangely.

Ryou hadn't made much progress toward figuring out why Marik's dark side had returned or what he wanted beyond destroying shirts. He'd tried asking Marik's dark side more questions when he appeared, but the whole thing tended to go by too quickly to get any answers. He also wanted to talk to those who would know more about Marik's dark side than he did – namely Ishizu and Odion – but he hadn't yet figured out how to approach them without giving Marik's secret away.

"I don't mind," Marik said, grabbing Ryou's hand as they walked along.

Ryou felt his heart beat a little faster when Marik took his hand, though he knew it didn't mean what he would have liked it to mean. He'd been to Egypt plenty of times and seen too many Egyptian men wandering around holding hands without anyone thinking anything of it to read much into it himself. He'd also seen Marik try the same thing with the others, not seeming to understand why they found it strange, but also not trying it again after being rebuffed.

In an odd reversal, Téa had offered Marik her hand after Joey had turned him down, and been refused herself. Apparently, in Marik's opinion, "guys only hold hands with girls when they're dating, right?"

Ryou hadn't cared how strange the hand-holding was – at the time he'd been too thrilled to have one of his friends paying attention to him. His hair had always gotten him plenty of funny looks and rude comments anyway, so the extra attention it drew hadn't even been all that new to him. He _had_ soon found himself fighting a blush whenever Marik held his hand, but that had been for an entirely different set of reasons.

They reached the library almost too soon for Ryou's comfort. Marik sat down at his favorite table, in the world geography section. Maps lined the wall across from him, and several large globes stood on the floor next to him.

Ryou put his things on the chair across from Marik, but didn't sit down. "I'm going to go look at some books," he said, pulling a course catalog out of his bag.

"Thinking about what classes you're going to take?" Marik asked, assuming what Ryou had hoped he would.

Ryou nodded. "I'll be a while," he said, walking off into the rows of books. He stopped in the world music section and grabbed a book from there to assist his claim, then headed off to the psychology section.

It took him a while to find anything close to what he was looking for. He'd known from a search of the library database that the main library didn't have any books on multiple personalities exclusively, so he'd had to search for more general books that mentioned the topic. Unfortunately, most of those barely dedicated more than paragraph to 'Dissociative Identity Disorder', and usually only to say that many psychologists doubted it even existed.

He'd learned that multiple personalities usually developed the way Marik's had, out of some kind of horrible trauma. He'd already known what had caused Marik's dark side to emerge, so it wasn't all that helpful, but it did give him hope that whatever treatment existed for the problem might help Marik – if he could ever find an actual description of the treatment. The books that even mentioned treatment never seemed to get more specific than "therapy might be helpful".

_Even if he agreed to that, where would we find a therapist who would believe half the things that happened to him?_ Ryou wondered. His father had sent him to a therapist once, shortly after he'd received the Millennium Ring for his birthday. He'd been acting strangely, forgetting things, missing time, seeing and hearing things that supposedly weren't there... The therapist had declared it a delayed reaction to the death of his mother and sister, and proceeded to treat him based on that assumption.

Since all his problems were in reality the result of being possessed by a malevolent spirit, it hadn't been particularly helpful. Ryou had soon learned to cover up anything strange that happened as best as he could, or to simply apologize for the 'odd behavior' he didn't remember and move on as quickly as possible. Eventually his therapist had fallen into a mysterious coma, and his father hadn't bothered to find him another one.

Ryou had been young enough for the things he'd said to be called 'over-imagination', but Marik... Any therapist would instantly label him delusional. Ryou was certain of it.

Ryou sighed, deciding to check out the book with the most information about the subject. He left the psychology section and walked around some more, picking up a book about Egyptian gods because of the class Yugi had mentioned (not that he intended to take it). He followed it up with a couple of randomly chosen books, one from the physics section, another from the history section. Figuring he had enough books to camouflage the book he really wanted, he carried the whole stack back to the table and set it down.

Marik had been sitting there staring at the book in front of him, absently spinning the globe next to him with one hand. He looked up when Ryou appeared, and just as Ryou expected, immediately grabbed the books to see what he'd picked out. His face lit up as he read the first title. "'The Music of Tuva'. Tuva's in Russia, right?"

"Um... Yeah?" Ryou replied, having absolutely no clue where Tuva was.

Marik was already flipping through the book. "Cool," he said. He put the book down and picked up the next. "'Abnormal Psychology'," he read. He looked up at Ryou with distaste clear on his face, making Ryou panic inside. "You know they'll make you take part in experiments?"

Ryou calmed down. "I know. I haven't actually decided what I'm doing yet."

Marik nodded. He moved on to the next book. "'Religion in the Old Kingdom of Egypt'," he said, dropping the book almost as soon as he'd seen the title. He picked up the next book, frowning in puzzlement. "'Advanced Topics in Quantum Mechanics'?"

"Er..." It occurred to Ryou that he probably should have been a little less random in his selection of books. "I wanted to see what I'd be getting myself into if I did physics."

Marik put the book down. He picked up the final book, then gave Ryou an odd look. "'The Red Menace: Why the West Will Inevitably Fall to the Soviet Union'." He flipped the book open. "Copyright 1952."

"Um." Ryou struggled to find a plausible explanation for that one. "I'd thought it would be interesting to see why he thought that," he reasoned. He took the book back from Marik and put it at the bottom of the pile. "So... any idea what classes you want to take?" Ryou asked, eager to change the subject.

"I don't know," Marik said, shaking his head. He spun the globe again. "I'm not sure what would fit in best with being a tomb keeper."

Ryou blinked at him. "You... I thought you were done being a tomb keeper," he said. "I mean, the Pharaoh already saw what he needed to see, didn't he?"

Marik shook his head. "That was really only one part of it. I'm still supposed to guard all the other knowledge and artifacts and pass them on."

"Why?" Ryou asked.

Marik shrugged. "It's my destiny."

Ryou repressed a shudder. There'd been a lot of talk about 'destiny' after the incident with the Pharaoh's memories. Ryou could still remember a particularly irritating conversation he'd had with the Pharaoh where he'd been assured that everyone knew he'd only been 'fulfilling his destiny' as the keeper of the Millennium Ring. He hadn't _shown_ his irritation, of course, having felt grateful to have retained his friends at all. But he still hated the idea that it had been his 'destiny' to suffer all that pain.

And he'd never understood how Marik could be _less_ angry about it than he was, but if he actually _believed_ it... "You really think it's your destiny?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," Marik said, like it wouldn't have occurred to him that it could be otherwise.

"Even..." Ryou hesitated, unsure if he should bring it up. "Even all the other things that happened to you?"

Marik went a little stiff, but nodded. "It was necessary," he said. "And the only real problems came because I couldn't accept how things were supposed to be..."

"Are you sure that was really the problem?" Ryou asked softly.

Marik nodded again, looking regretful. "If I'd just done what I was supposed to do in the first place, no one would have died," he said quietly.

Ryou wished he had more details about Marik's past. He knew that Marik's dark side had killed Marik's father, but he was a little vague on the exact situation in which it had occurred. Marik was starting to look depressed, though, so Ryou decided against asking him about it right then. "Does what you study really have to be related to being a tomb keeper?" he asked instead.

Marik looked surprised. "Shouldn't it be?"

"You already know what you're supposed to do as a tomb keeper," Ryou said. "You know more about the subject than anyone here ever could. Couldn't you pick something else and do it at the same time?"

"Maybe," Marik replied, face contemplative. "I'd have to pick something that wouldn't take me too far from the artifacts, and I'd still have to pass the knowledge on..."

It was bizarre to hear Marik sounding so responsible. "That still leaves a lot of areas open," Ryou said.

"Yeah," Marik said. "I guess it does."

"You have time to figure it out," Ryou said. He sat down, pulling his homework out of his bag. "How much have you finished so far?"

* * *

The two made quick work of the rest of their assignments, then zoomed home on Marik's motorcycle after Ryou checked out his books. Ryou went to his room and put his stuff on his desk. He took off his shoes and sprawled out on his bed with the books, picking up the abnormal psychology book first.

He didn't have long with the book before Marik came into his room, as usual, without knocking. He bounced onto to the bed, sitting next to Ryou. "What are we doing for dinner?" Marik asked. Ryou was the one who knew how to cook, though Marik usually tried to 'help' him in the kitchen.

"We should probably just order something," Ryou said, putting the book back down on the pile. "I'll go get the menus," he added, walking to the kitchen. He picked up the stack of menus and carried it back toward his room, a little surprised that Marik hadn't followed him. Marik always got really excited about ordering out, favoring the most unusual choices on any given menu and never picking the same meal twice.

Ryou heard a crashing sound come from his room and froze. _Is... is __**he**__ in there?_ Ryou wondered, watching the half-closed door warily. He heard a growl, followed by another loud noise. Sheets of paper floated out of the doorway, looking like they'd been ripped out of a book.

_Oh, no, _Ryou thought. _He must have noticed what I was up to. _Ryou pulled the door all the way open, though he had no idea what he intended to do when confronted with Marik's dark side.

Not-Marik stood next to the bed, ripping the remainder of the book apart with his teeth. He'd knocked over Ryou's desk at some point – Ryou assumed that was probably the crash he'd heard. Not-Marik looked up when he entered, wild eyes focusing in on his face. Ryou took a step back, wondering if he was about to lose another shirt.

But not-Marik had a different idea, it seemed. Once he'd torn the last of the pages from the book, he threw the book cover hard at Ryou, hitting him squarely in the chest.

"Ow..." Ryou said. He fell to the floor in shock, adding the stack of menus to the mess of paper on the floor. He rubbed the spot where the cover had hit, thinking he would have a very large bruise there soon. He picked up the book cover from where it had fallen and blinked in surprise. _'Religion in the Old Kingdom of Egypt'?_

He heard a groan from the other side of the room and saw Marik gingerly picking himself up off the floor. Marik looked confused for a moment, then reached inside his mouth and pulled out a scrap of paper, becoming utterly bewildered when he saw what it was.

Ryou jumped to his feet, dropping the book cover to the ground. He ran over to Marik and hugged him, always glad to have his friend back after his dark side had taken over.

Marik returned the hug, but then gently pushed him away. "Did I hurt you?" he asked, looking Ryou over in search of injuries. "You still have your shirt," he added, sounding surprised.

"Yeah," Ryou said. "He destroyed a book and then threw it at me." Ryou patted his chest to indicate where the book had hit. "But that's all he did."

Marik promptly lifted Ryou's shirt to inspect the spot. "It's a little red," he said, gently running his hand over the area. "But it doesn't look too serious, thankfully," he added, sounding relieved. "Your other scratches look okay..." Marik traced his finger along one of the newly healed scratches, making Ryou's skin tingle.

Ryou coughed. "Yeah," he said, as usual finding it difficult to form a coherent sentence while Marik felt his chest. _For wounds_, Ryou reminded himself. _He's just checking to see how I'm doing._ He forced himself not to sigh in disappointment when Marik took his hands away.

Marik looked at the pages scattered around the floor. "So, this time he wanted to destroy your book? Or books?"

Ryou checked the books still sitting on the bed, finding all four present and accounted for, including 'Abnormal Psychology'. "Just the one book. The one about Egyptian religion I checked out."

Marik rubbed his face, then sighed. "I'm so sorry. I'll pay for it, so you don't have to worry about that..."

Ryou nodded. "It's okay," he said, putting a hand on Marik's shoulder.

Marik squeezed Ryou's hand in thanks, then knelt down and began picking up pieces of paper. "I'll have this cleaned up in no time," he said.

Ryou went for the menus, laying them out on the bed. "And then we can figure out what to order." He joined Marik in gathering the scattered pages.

"You pick," Marik said. "I'll pay."

"That's really not—" Ryou began to protest.

Marik paused in his work, looking at Ryou with a sad smile on his face. "Please."

"Alright," Ryou replied, turning his desk upright. He put his bag back on top of it, then watched Marik condense the remaining pages into a pile. "Perhaps we should go out somewhere," he suggested, thinking that Marik's dark side had yet to appear while they'd been out of the apartment. He wasn't going to mention that as the reason, though.

Marik smiled at him again – a real, enthusiastic smile this time. "That's the best idea I've heard all day."

* * *

Marik had still insisted that Ryou pick the restaurant, as well as insisting on paying for it. This had led to Ryou picking a nice-looking but reasonably-priced place he thought they'd both like – it seemed rude to do anything else. It had also led to the waitress seeming to believe that they were on a date, making Ryou feel extraordinarily self-conscious the whole time. Marik hadn't even noticed the waitress's misimpression.

He _had_ noticed that she and the other waitresses kept looking over at them and giggling, occasionally saying something like 'so cute!' when Marik touched Ryou's hand on the table, but his interpretation of the situation was a little different. "They keep looking at you," he said to Ryou. "Do you think one of them is interested in you?"

"No..." Ryou replied, fighting the urge to hide his face in his hands. "I, uh, really don't think that's why."

"Interested in me?" Marik asked.

"No," Ryou said, picking up a menu and pretending to read it. He really just needed a place to hide without being obvious about it. He stared at the 'Foods of the World' menu, thinking that it was really very unfair for him to have to go through all the awkwardness of being on a date with Marik without even getting to actually _be_ on a date with Marik.

The waitress had soon come back around to take their orders, shaking Ryou out of his revery. "What would you like?"

"Um..." Ryou's eyes darted all over the page, not really seeing anything written there. He pointed to a menu item at random. "That."

"Really?" the waitress said, not writing his order down.

"Really," Ryou said firmly.

"Well, you're a brave one, I'll give you that," she said, scribbling something down on her pad as she walked away.

Marik looked over the menu to see where he'd pointed. "Wow," he said, sounding impressed. "Not even I went for the fried tarantulas."

"The what?" Ryou blurted out, only now able to read the words under his finger. "Ah... R-right. Fried tarantulas."

"I definitely want to try at least one, though," Marik said.

"You can have as many as you like," Ryou assured him, not that it mattered one way or the other. Marik had no qualms about stealing food off of other people's plates. Ryou wished he could be so unrestrained himself – while he liked spiders for their association with the creepy and strange, he wasn't sure he wanted to _eat_ them.

"You can try some of mine, too," Marik said.

"I'll do that," Ryou said, deeply relieved to have an actual offer to do so. He refrained from asking what Marik had gotten, choosing to hope for the best until the food arrived.

It arrived soon, and Ryou was happy to see that it looked like a fairly normal pasta dish, albeit one that had what looked like some sort of tentacles in it. He wasn't going to complain, especially not when faced simultaneously with a plate full of spiders.

The waitress put one plate down in front of each of them, and Marik immediately moved the dishes so that they sat side by side in the middle of the table.

"I wonder how we're supposed to eat those," Ryou said, tapping his fork on the table.

Marik shrugged, picking up a spider by one of its crispy legs. "Sometimes the simplest way is best," he said, taking a bite. Ryou tried not to cringe. Marik chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then swallowed. "It's really good!" he said, eating up the rest of the spider without a second thought.

_Well, that's promising, I suppose,_ Ryou thought. He eyed the spiders on the plate, trying not to imagine that they were moving. _I can't just not eat the food he's going to pay for, however likely he is to eat it himself._ Ryou steeled his nerves, grabbing the smallest spider on the plate and shoving the whole thing in his mouth before he could change his mind about it. He coughed a little.

"You okay?" Marik asked.

Ryou nodded, chewing as best as he could.

"What do you think?" Marik asked.

Ryou thought it over. Once he got over the fact that he was eating a giant spider, he was surprised to find that it wasn't all that bad. He swallowed before answering. "I like it." He picked up another one, taking a more reasonable bite this time. Marik followed suit, and they soon finished off the entire plate of spiders. The pasta dish didn't last long either.

"This was fun," Marik said as he paid the bill. "We should do it again some time."

"Y-yeah," Ryou said nervously, embarrassed by the knowing smiles on several people in the restaurant.

Marik grabbed his hand and pulled him outside.

* * *

They got back to the apartment late in the evening, both of them still keyed up from the ride home. Ryou was also still full of nervous energy from the non-date they'd just had, energy that was trying to force him into action now that no one else was around.

Marik really wasn't helping, either. "I like going out. I don't know why we haven't done it more often," he said, toying with a strand of Ryou's hair.

Ryou turned a little pink, feeling the familiar urge to kiss Marik bubbling up inside him. He put a hand on the side of Marik's face. Marik smiled, then got a slightly confused look on his face. Ryou immediately pulled his hand away. "Um. Sorry," he said, feeling distinctly disappointed.

Marik frowned, looking even more confused than before. "Sorry about what?" he asked.

"Nothing," Ryou said, forcing a smile onto his face.

Marik ran a hand over Ryou's shoulder, stopping at the side of his neck. He looked at Ryou with concern. "Really?"

Now it was Ryou's turn to be confused. The urge to kiss Marik returned, warring against the apparent rejection he'd received not a minute earlier. He bounced on his feet once, then grabbed Marik and pulled him into a passionate... hug. _At least I know this is acceptable,_ he thought, rubbing his hands up and down Marik's back. He buried his face in Marik's shoulder.

Marik was clearly surprised at first, but he soon returned the hug with equal force.

Ryou let go eventually, realizing that they couldn't stay like that forever. His face was flushed, and his body was even more excited than it had been before, but the urgent need to express his feelings for Marik had been at least temporarily satisfied.

"What was that for?" Marik asked. He sounded curious, if still a little puzzled.

"Um." Ryou was starting to feel a little self-conscious about his outburst. "I just had a really good time," he said, taking a few steps away. "Good night," he said, then fled to the safety of his room, barely noticing Marik r eturning his 'good night' back to him.


	4. A Burning Curiosity

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 4)** - **A Burning Curiosity**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

The rest of the week was surprisingly peaceful. Marik's dark side hadn't appeared even once in the past few days. Ryou wasn't sure why he was being so calm, but then, Ryou never knew why he appeared in a rage, either. Maybe he'd just gotten bored with destroying shirts and books.

Marik had paid for the library book, like he'd promised, and donated a few rare books about Egypt to the library as an additional apology. The head librarian had accepted both the money and the books, but Ryou had gotten the feeling that both he and Marik were now permanently on a list of book-mishandlers somewhere.

Ryou's chest had bruised, just as he'd thought it would. Marik apologized for that by rubbing lotion on his chest every day 'to help it heal faster'. As far as Ryou knew, lotion didn't actually have any effect on bruises, but he wasn't about to complain.

Ryou and Marik had just finished lunch on Sunday when there was a knock on the door. Ryou looked at Marik. "Are you expecting anyone?" he asked from where he sat on the couch.

Marik shook his head as he walked over to the door. He looked through the peephole and cringed almost imperceptibly before his expression returned to normal.

"Who is it?" Ryou asked him.

Marik opened the door, revealing Odion waiting on the other side. He looked pretty much the same as he had every other time Ryou had seen him. Ryou could never judge Odion's moods very well – he always seemed to be in a state of general calm in contrast to Marik's excitable personality, but Ryou never had any idea what he was truly feeling on the inside.

"Hi," Marik said, standing aside to allow him to come in.

"Hello," Odion said, nodding at Ryou to include him in the greeting. Ryou waved back. Odion walked in and stood near the door.

"Why'd you come all the way here?" Marik asked, more bluntly than Ryou would have.

"I came to see how you were doing," Odion replied. "You've sounded strange on the phone lately."

Ryou had heard a few of those phone conversations, and he couldn't really blame Odion for being concerned. Marik had hung up as quickly possible, usually without much of a conversation.

Odion looked Marik up and down, as though searching his person for whatever had caused his odd phone behavior. Apparently not finding what he was looking for, he turned his attention to Ryou, who did his best not to look suspicious. They still hadn't told him about the reappearance of Marik's dark side, after all. Odion seemed to decide he wouldn't find answers looking at Ryou, either, and started surveying the room, which was fortunately relatively clean.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Ryou asked, hoping Odion would say yes so that he could leave the room.

"No, thank you," Odion said. "How _are_ you doing?"

Marik sat down on the chair next to the couch and crossed his arms. "I'm doing fine. I've just been really busy with school."

Odion sat down on the couch next to Ryou. "You mentioned that on the phone. You said you did well on your tests?"

Marik nodded. "I did fine," he said, as though there wasn't anything particularly interesting about it.

"He had the highest score on the history test," Ryou felt the need to point out.

"He did?" Odion asked, seeming to decide he was more likely to get information out of Ryou than Marik.

Ryou glanced at Marik, who looked neutral. "Um. Yeah. He did well on all our other tests, too. He's been studying a lot, lately."

"He has?" Odion asked, expression changing just a little.

_Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say to convince him everything is normal,_ Ryou thought. "Both of us have," he said, hoping Odion would assume Marik's newfound studiousness came from him, instead of the other way around.

Odion nodded. "I'm glad to hear it," he said. "Do you still like your classes?" he asked Marik.

Something flickered across Marik's face, and Ryou could tell Odion caught it, though he didn't say anything about it. "Yeah," Marik said brightly. "I'm learning a lot."

Odion nodded again, then abruptly changed topic. "Ishizu is hoping you'll come over for dinner tonight."

"I don't know," Marik said. "I'd like to, but I've been so busy lately..."

Ryou couldn't tell if it was just good acting, but Marik sounded like he really did want to go and regretted not being able to. Marik had told him that he wasn't just worried about Ishizu and Odion finding out that his dark side had returned, he was also worried that his dark side might come out if he spent time around them. It did seem like a sound concern, but Ryou hated the thought of Marik keeping himself away from his family because of his dark side.

"You've been a little less busy the past few days," Ryou said, hoping Marik would understand what he meant.

Marik tilted his head to the side in thought. "It _would_ only be a few hours. Maybe it would be okay."

"Should I tell her you're coming?" Odion asked him.

"Yeah," Marik decided. "I'll come."

Odion turned to Ryou. "You're invited, too," he said.

"Er." Ryou liked both Ishizu and Odion well enough, and he'd enjoyed dinner with them and Marik plenty of times, but he wasn't certain it was a good idea in this case. Marik's dark side only ever seemed to come out when he was around, so it seemed like it would only increase the risk. "I-"

"You should come," Marik interrupted him.

Ryou blinked at him. _If he thinks it's okay, it should be okay, right?_ Ryou thought. "Okay. I'll come, too."

Odion got to his feet. "I'll see you both at dinner, then," he said, looking at Marik one more time.

"We'll see you then," Marik said, leading him to the door and closing it behind him.

* * *

Marik grew more anxious as the dinner hour approached. He tried not to show it, but Ryou could see that he was more tense than usual. "It'll be fine," Ryou assured him as they stood outside the Ishtar family home.

"I hope you're right about that," Marik said, letting them both in with his key.

Ishizu came in to greet them as they removed their shoes. "It's good to see you," she said, giving Marik a quick hug. "And you, too," she added, giving Ryou's hand a squeeze.

"I'm glad to be here," Ryou said, giving her a smile. "Is there anything I can-"

"You could help me in here," Odion said, poking his head out from the kitchen.

"Okay," Ryou said, a little surprised at how quickly he'd been taken up on his offer. He nodded to Ishizu, then walked over to the kitchen.

"I should help, too," Ryou heard Marik say behind him.

"I need your help setting the table," Ishizu told him.

Ryou looked at the wide array of foods spread out on the counter, most looking like they were ready to go on the stove. "What do you need me to do?" he asked, thinking that his help really didn't seem all that necessary.

Odion looked around, then handed him a knife and an onion. "Chop this," he said, then set about cooking something on the stove.

Ryou looked at the large mound of chopped onion already sitting in a bowl, but didn't question it aloud. He started chopping as instructed, hoping the onion wouldn't make his eyes water. It didn't, and soon Ryou got to enjoy the smell of food cooking as he chopped. He got so engrossed in what he was doing that he almost didn't notice when Odion started talking to him.

"How is Marik really doing?" Odion asked, not turning away from the stove.

"Huh?" Ryou stopped what he was doing. "Ah. He's fine. He really is doing well in class."

"I know. I believe you," Odion said, stirring something in a pot. "But I want to know how he's _really_ doing."

_I guess it would be more surprising if he **hadn't** noticed,_ Ryou thought. He doubted Odion would just accept more protestations that Marik was 'fine', and somehow Ryou doubted he would give up on finding out what was going on, either, even if he stopped asking about it. _He stopped asking Marik earlier, and now he's asking me. If I don't give him something, he'll probably just look somewhere else... Yugi might well tell him, if he asks._

Ryou knew he had to come up with something. "He's okay. He's just..." Ryou thought about what was going on Marik's life aside from his dark side coming back. It would be easier if he could point to something true. "He's having trouble deciding on what classes he's going to take."

Odion glanced back at Ryou for a second. "He is?" Odion asked, picking up one of the pots and bringing it over to the counter.

Ryou nodded. "He's not sure what would go with being a tomb keeper."

For a moment, Odion looked like he was about to drop the pot, but he held on to it, scooping the contents out into a bowl. "Marik told you intends to be a tomb keeper?" he asked, face impassive.

"Yeah?" Ryou replied nervously. _Is that something I shouldn't have said? _Ryou wondered. Marik hadn't told him to keep that a secret – and really, why would he?

"I see," Odion said, returning to working in silence.

_I don't,_ Ryou thought, but he was glad the interrogation seemed to be over. He watched Odion finish cooking the rest of the meal, then helped him carry the food out to the table.

It was an enjoyable meal. Neither Ishizu nor Odion pressed for more details about how Marik was doing, and Marik seemed to relax more than he had at any point since his dark side had returned. Both he and Ryou left for home feeling very happy and very full.

* * *

"Are you glad you went?" Ryou asked when they got home.

"Yeah," Marik said, beaming at him. "I guess there really wasn't anything to worry about." He looked around. "Maybe it's just here... He hasn't even attacked you outside this apartment."

"Do you think there's something about this place he doesn't like?" Ryou asked, surveying the room himself. There wasn't anything special about their apartment, other than the fact that they were living in it.

Marik shrugged. "I don't know. It makes about as much sense as there being something about your shirts he doesn't like. Which is to say, not very much."

"He doesn't seem to hate my shirts quite so much anymore," Ryou said.

"True," Marik said, looking at Ryou's shirt. He got an odd look on his face, then shook his head. "I haven't put lotion on your bruise, yet," he said, grabbing the lotion from the table where he'd left it the day before. He sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to him.

Ryou quickly joined him on the couch, always eager to have Marik touching his body.

Marik shoved Ryou's shirt up to reveal his chest, then frowned, letting it fall back down. "It'd be easier if you took your shirt off," he said. "I'm always getting lotion on it like this."

"Ah. Y-yeah. That makes sense." Ryou turned a little pink. _There's no reason to be nervous about this,_ he told himself. _He's seen me with my shirt off plenty of times by now, and he's even touched me like that. And he's never noticed anything strange about my reaction. He probably won't notice anything now, either, and..._ Ryou started to get a little lost in his obsessing.

"Are you going to?" Marik asked.

Ryou blinked at him. "Oh. Right." He slipped off his shirt, arranged it neatly, and set it on the table. He folded his arms, then unfolded them again, feeling very self-conscious about the situation.

Marik, of course, had no such limitations. He rubbed the lotion onto Ryou's chest, spreading it evenly over the bruised area. It didn't hurt, thankfully – the bruise was more ugly than painful. He watched his hands as he worked, seeming intensely interested in the lines of Ryou's chest. His eyes periodically flickered up to Ryou's face, but Ryou averted his gaze, ever-fearful of what Marik might see if their eyes happened to meet.

Ryou gasped when Marik's hand brushed against a nipple. He squirmed a little, digging his fingers into the fabric of his jeans.

Marik pulled his hand away immediately, inspecting the area he'd touched with concern. "Hurts?"

Ryou's face flushed. "N-no," he said. He swallowed once before continuing. "No, it... ah... felt good, actually." His eyes darted between Marik's face and the floor – he felt too nervous to maintain eye contact, but he was too desperate to see Marik's reaction to look away for long.

Marik just seemed curious. He set the bottle of lotion down on the couch, taking a closer look at Ryou's chest. "Really?" he asked, rubbing the same spot again to make sure.

Ryou nearly had a heart attack. "R-really," he said weakly. He resisted the urge to squirm more, afraid of drawing attention to his lap.

But Ryou needn't have worried. Marik's attention was already diverted. He slid one hand under his shirt, rubbing his own chest the way he had Ryou's.

Ryou's mouth dropped open at the sight. He stared stupidly at Marik until the hand reappeared from under the shirt, and Marik gave his verdict. "I guess it felt nice," Marik said, amused tone indicating that it wasn't worth the kind of fuss Ryou was making.

"It feels different when someone else does it," Ryou protested, only noticing afterward that he was implying he had a basis for comparison.

"It does?" Marik asked.

Ryou nodded, too embarrassed to reply.

Marik lifted his shirt up. "Do it to me, then," he said.

"W-what?" Ryou stammered. His whole body suddenly felt very, very hot.

"Huh," Marik said, tracing a line down Ryou's stomach. "I didn't know you could blush that far down."

Ryou had nothing coherent to say in response to that, so he squeezed some lotion onto his fingertips and slid his hand under Marik's shirt. He bit his lip when his fingers rubbed against one of Marik's nipples, sending a shock through his own body at the reality of what he was doing. Touching Marik was at least as exciting as Marik touching him.

Soon Ryou wasn't the only one squirming – or blushing, Ryou noted, seeing the pink tinge to Marik's cheeks. "Oh, wow," Marik breathed. "That _does_ feel nice."

"Oh," Ryou said intelligently. "G-good." His eyes focused on Marik to the exclusion of all else, noticing every jerk of his body, every hitch in his breath. Ryou couldn't even tell what situation they were even in at that point. _Does this mean he wants...?_ Ryou's body tingled at the possibility, but he had his doubts. _He really just wanted to know why I reacted that way,_ Ryou thought, still embarrassed by his immediate and obvious response. _At least he's not thinking about that anymore._

Ryou rubbed the last bit of lotion into Marik's skin, then dropped his hand out from under Marik's shirt.

Marik squirmed a few more times, then rubbed the side of his leg before replying. "Definitely not painful, then," he said. He smiled at Ryou. His eyes were alight with... something.

_I know that look,_ Ryou thought somewhat nervously. It was the look that said Marik had just discovered something _fun_. "Mar- ah!" Ryou suddenly found himself flat on his back, Marik right on top of him.

"Hmm?" Marik asked, eying Ryou's face closely. His hands roamed over Ryou's chest, thumbing small circles over sensitive skin.

"I... o-oh." Whatever Ryou's intended reply had been, it soon devolved into a series of embarrassing noises, which Ryou attempted to muffle with his hand. He tried desperately not to squirm, all too aware of how close Marik's body was to his and how excited they both were. _I can't just rub myself up against him. Can I?_

Ryou's mind spun in circles, trying and failing to find an appropriate course of action in such a thoroughly inappropriate situation.

His determination to remain still was rapidly wavering. Marik was still watching him with a sort of pleased fascination, like there was nothing he'd ever enjoyed more than the effect he was having on Ryou at that moment. _He's the one who jumped on top of me. What if he __**wants**__ me rubbing against him? _Ryou argued with himself. _But he's jumped on top of me plenty of times, and he never meant anything like that before..._ Years of dealing with Marik's broad definition of normal, friendly behavior made it difficult to assume that Marik was simply coming onto him now.

Ryou gripped Marik's shirt with both hands in an attempt to hold himself in place. He tried to slow his breathing, but it was a lost cause. _At least I'm not the only one with that problem,_ he thought, seeing Marik's half-open mouth.

Marik took one of his hands off of Ryou's chest, resting it on the side of Ryou's neck. "You know, the look on your face is..." Marik trailed off, frowning as he tried to think of a word to describe it. "I don't even know what it is," he finished, a small smile appearing on his face. "It's _great_, though."

Ryou immediately grabbed a throw pillow and covered his face, too embarrassed for words.

Unfortunately, not being able to see anything only heightened the feeling of Marik's hands on his skin. He let out a soft moan into the pillow.

"Hey," Marik said, pushing the pillow away. "I _want_ to see your face." Ryou's eyes drifted upward, locking onto Marik's involuntarily. Marik gave him a playful smile.

Ryou's resolve shattered completely. His hips jerked upward entirely on their own, grinding right against Marik in a way that felt far, far too good. _Oh- oh god-_

Marik let out a startled "ah!" and grabbed Ryou's shoulders to steady himself. He looked at Ryou in mild confusion.

Ryou went still, feeling utterly mortified – a feeling made worse by the fact that his body still hadn't completely given up hope. "S-sorry," he said, voice barely audible. He stared at a point somewhere behind Marik's head.

"Huh?" Marik asked. He shook his head, then looked at Ryou. "You just surprised me a little. It's okay," he said, as though he thought Ryou was making far too big a deal out of it.

_Maybe I am,_ Ryou thought, his spirits lifting a bit. He risked a brief look at Marik's face and was relieved not to see any of the things he'd been fearing there. "It's really okay?" he asked, wondering what that meant for... well, everything. _Does this mean he wants the things I want?_ Ryou wondered, still unable to figure out what they'd just been doing – or unable to figure out what Marik thought about it, anyway. _This sort of thing must be much easier for people who actually know what they're doing,_ he thought longingly.

Marik nodded, clearly not very concerned. "It's impossible to keep still when being touched like that," he said, sounding entertained – and possibly a little perplexed. He trailed one of his hands down Ryou's chest, coming close to the most sensitive spots, but not actually touching them. "I guess it's kind of like being tickled."

"I guess," Ryou said. He found the comparison a little strange, but he was too physically frustrated and mentally exhausted to pinpoint exactly why. He relaxed his head on the couch cushion and sighed.

"Does everyone react that way?" Marik asked, as though Ryou were some sort of expert on the matter.

"Er. Um. Maybe?" Ryou replied. "But you really shouldn't try it on other people," he hastened to add, fearing that Marik intended to do the same thing to someone like Joey.

"Well, no, that would be weird," Marik said, giving Ryou a funny look.

_Hey, I am not the strange one here,_ Ryou thought. _Wait a minute..._ He frowned in confusion. "But you don't think it's weird to do it to me?" he asked, feeling a surge of hope. Maybe _he_ was the oblivious one, and Marik had always thought his interest was obvious. Maybe their dinner earlier in the week really had been a date. Maybe Marik thought they'd been dating for years.

Ryou had to admit that last one was probably unlikely, but he could never know when it came to Marik.

The real answer wasn't even close to what he'd been expecting. Marik shrugged. "I'm already treating your bruises, right?"

It took Ryou a moment to process what he'd just heard. "Oh." What Marik's dark side had told him about Marik making up excuses for things suddenly came to mind. _Not even **Marik** could really think this is part of 'treating my bruises', could he?_ Ryou inspected Marik's face for signs of deception, but saw nothing unusual. If Marik was lying, he was very good at it.

_But why would he lie?_ Ryou wondered. _It's not like I wouldn't have let him touch me otherwise. He didn't even tell me his reasoning until after he'd already done it._

He watched Marik pick up the bottle of lotion and close the top, setting it on the table. _Maybe the excuse isn't for my benefit? _Ryou theorized. _What if he thinks men shouldn't have that kind of relationship?_ Ryou had wondered endlessly about Marik's opinion on such things, but he'd never been able to get a definitive answer one way or the other.

Marik slid off Ryou onto the couch, creating a pleasant friction in the process. "I'm going out for a ride," he said, standing up. "Want to come?"

"Ah- N-not right now," Ryou said, sitting up on the couch. "I need to..." He tried to find an end for that sentence that didn't make what he intended to do completely obvious. "I need to... uh... take a nap."

"You feeling okay?" Marik asked, sounding concerned.

"Y-yeah," Ryou assured him. "I'm just... just a little tired, I guess. It's nothing a nap won't help."

"Okay," Marik said. "See you later." He walked to the door.

Ryou waved after him. "Bye." He sighed in relief when Marik was out of the apartment. He got to his feet and put his shirt back on. After a moment of thought, he grabbed the bottle of lotion and brought it with him to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

He played the 'treatment' he'd just received back again in his mind (with a few imaginative alterations) and was soon feeling _much_ better.


	5. An Awkward Predicament

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 5)** -** An Awkward Predicament**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

The next several days were both the most enjoyable and the most maddening of Ryou's life. Marik loved getting a reaction out of Ryou far too much to ignore what he'd discovered. He seized every available opportunity to 'treat Ryou's bruises', often more than once in a day. Ryou didn't object, knowing that the excuse could only last so long – the large bruise was becoming less visible every day.

Ryou didn't know what to think about the 'treatment' itself. Marik usually had him lie down on the couch, but he avoided straddling him or sitting on his lap, choosing to sit beside him instead. Ryou didn't quite know what to make of this sudden change in behavior. Marik had never seemed bothered by (or even aware of) the suggestive nature of the position before. Of course, Ryou had never tried blatantly rubbing himself against Marik before, either.

_It probably bothered him more than he let on,_ Ryou often thought, the memory always triggering a renewed flood of embarrassment. _But if that's what it is, wouldn't he not want to touch me either?_ Ryou wondered. Whatever the reason, Ryou found it a relief not to have Marik on top of him while trying to drive him nuts. He could squirm as much as he wanted without worrying about inadvertently grinding himself into Marik's body.

Which was fortunate, because after a few minutes of Marik's attention, Ryou had no possible hope of keeping himself still. Right now, for instance, he was panting like he'd been running a marathon, chest moving up and down rapidly as Marik's hands worked their way across his body. Ryou clutched the front of Marik's shirt with his hands, hips periodically jerking into thin air. It was frustrating and mildly embarrassing, but Marik didn't seem to have a problem with it.

_If anything, I'd almost think that was the point,_ Ryou thought with a hint of exasperation. Marik seemed to be measuring his success by how much he got Ryou to squirm. He watched Ryou's face and body with an intense focus, repeating any movement that got a positive response, and smiling in pure happiness every time he got a particularly strong reaction. His expression had started out curious, but the past few times he'd 'treated' Ryou, it had become far more purposeful, as though he'd mastered the art of turning Ryou into a gibbering mess and was now choosing the precise movements he needed to do so.

At the moment, this meant rubbing Ryou's skin in small circles – circles that were getting slowly, yet progressively lower. Ryou's death-grip on Marik's shirt was partly to keep himself from just grabbing Marik's hand and shoving it where he wanted it most. _I can't very well do that, _he thought, biting his lip.

Ryou wished for the millionth time that he had an excuse to do to Marik what Marik was doing to him. It didn't really seem very fair that Marik could 'treat' him until he could barely think coherently, but he couldn't do the same in return. _Maybe I **could** do it, _he thought. _What if he's just waiting for me to do something? Maybe I should just try it and see what he does. But what if he doesn't like it, and I don't have an explanation for what I was doing...?_

Ryou came out of his revery when Marik made a soft "oh!" and stopped the movement of his hands. Ryou looked up and was surprised to find that his own hands had wandered under Marik's shirt at some point. He quickly pulled them away. "S-sorry. I just... um... I j-just needed something to hold on to," he babbled, painfully aware of the nonsensical nature of his excuse.

Fortunately, Marik didn't seem to know how ridiculous it was. He caught one of Ryou's hands and put it back. "Go ahead," he said with a smile.

If Ryou's whole body hadn't already been bright red, he would have blushed. "A-ah," he agreed, sliding both of his hands up under Marik's shirt. He felt indescribably good when Marik leaned into his touch. _I suppose the excuse doesn't really matter,_ he thought, slowly exploring the muscles of Marik's chest.

Soon Marik was just as much of a panting mess as Ryou was – which unfortunately seemed to mean it was time to stop. "Wow," Marik said, pulling away. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then looked at Ryou's chest. "It's definitely getting better," he said.

"Huh?" Ryou asked. For a moment he thought Marik was commenting on what they'd been doing, but he quickly realized that Marik was actually referring to the bruise, now barely visible. "Oh. Right," he said, trying to contain his disappointment at where they'd stopped. "Much better," he added.

Marik jumped up from the couch, looking incredibly keyed up. "Let's go do something," he said.

Ryou just lay there, knowing that whatever 'something' Marik was actually referring to, it wasn't what Ryou really wanted just then. "Um. Maybe a little later?" Ryou said, slowly sitting up. "I'm just going to-"

"Take a nap?" Marik finished. He sounded skeptical.

Ryou stared at a spot somewhere behind Marik. He swallowed. "Y-yeah," he mumbled, feeling caught. _I don't need him thinking about what I'm doing while I'm doing it,_ he thought uncomfortably.

"Isn't it a little weird to take that many naps in one day?" Marik asked.

"M-maybe," Ryou replied, feeling mortified. Ryou couldn't tell whether Marik was messing with him or not, which made things even worse. _Either way,_ _I probably should have come up with a better reason to use before we go to class in the morning. _Marik always wanted to 'treat' him _after_ he'd already had his morning shower, so he was out that excuse.

"But I, uh, really do need that many..." Ryou continued weakly, not sure whether it help or hurt his case. _**You're**__ the only reason I need that many, _he thought indignantly.

"You should get more sleep at night," Marik told him.

"Yeah..." Ryou replied, feeling puzzled. _Did he mean that literally? Or am I missing something here? _Ryou wondered, trying to figure out what that sentence could even _mean_ in the context of their conversation.

"Let's do something after your nap, then," Marik said, still sounding full of energy.

"Are you sure you want to wait for me?" Ryou asked, standing up and preparing to retreat to him room.

Marik shrugged. "You never take all that long," he said.

"Oh." Ryou had never felt a more powerful urge to hide in his whole life. He started backing away in the direction of his room. "A-after I'm done, then," he said, shutting himself behind his door before Marik could reply.

He stood for a moment with his face in his hands before getting into bed. Marik had yet to wander into his room while he was 'napping', but Ryou wouldn't put it past him, so he always made sure he was covered.

* * *

The lingering embarrassment from their conversation kept Ryou in his room a little longer than usual once he was finished. He remade his bed, then lay on top of it thinking about his predicament.

Marik clearly wanted at least some of the same things he did, but for whatever reason he preferred making up excuses to do them, instead of just being open about it. _I suppose I can't really blame him for that, can I? _Ryou thought. _I've been doing the exact same thing he has. But in my case, I'm worried about how he'd react. He doesn't usually care about things like that._

If he _knew_ that was the reason, he could always make the first move himself – once he got up the courage to do it, anyway. But the other possible cause of Marik's behavior prevented that as an option in his mind.

_If he thinks it's wrong, being straightforward about it is the worst thing I could do, _Ryou lamented to himself. _At best, he wouldn't want to do those things anymore. At worst..._ Ryou didn't want to go any further down that particular train of thought.

Ryou sat up on his bed. _I have to find out his opinion on things like this,_ he decided, clapping his hands together. Of course, that was easier said than done. He tried to think of a way of phrasing the question that wasn't awkward and horrible. He couldn't very well just go up to Marik and say _'are you bothered by the idea of two men having sex?'_

The alternatives he came up with really weren't much better.

_'What do you think about gay sex? I mean, n-not that I think you've been thinking about gay sex. It's just that I was thinking about it – the, um, idea of it, I mean, not thinking about **it** itself – and I just wanted your opinion on it. If you have one, that is.'_

_'So. Um. About gay sex... Do you think it's a good thing? A bad thing? A... neutral thing?'_

_'Would you like some gay sex? With me, maybe? O-or not with me. With whoever you want to have it with, of course. I-if you want to have it, which you might not...'_

_'We've been having a great deal of **almost** gay sex lately, so I was just wondering if you would like to-'_

"Are you okay?"

Ryou felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back to reality. He lifted his head from where he'd buried it in his hands and saw Marik's concerned face. He gave Marik a bright smile. "I'm fine," he said. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" Marik asked, clearly not buying it.

"It was nothing," Ryou said.

"Is it about... _him_?" Marik asked, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Huh?" The question was so far from what he'd actually been thinking about that it took Ryou a moment to understand what Marik meant. "Oh, no. Nothing like that." Marik's dark side had been so quiet lately that Ryou had stopped thinking about it most of the time, with Marik's continued distractions not really helping the matter any. _Marik could never forget about it, though, _Ryou thought, feeling a little guilty for his lack of progress. "What are we doing, again?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.

Marik looked relieved. "I don't know. Is there anything you want to do?"

_I want to find out your opinion,_ Ryou thought, knowing that he wasn't about to be _asking_ for it any time soon. He tried to come up with something to do that might end up giving him the answer he wanted anyway. "We could... rent a movie?" Ryou suggested, thinking he could find a movie with something relevant and gauge Marik's reaction to it.

"Sounds good to me," Marik said. "Let's go."

* * *

"Let's get a horror movie," Marik said when they entered the store. Ryou wasn't surprised.

When they'd first met, Marik hadn't been much of a fan of horror movies, but it had been Ryou's favorite genre for a long time. Ryou had always been fascinated with spooky, supernatural things, and not even being possessed by a cursed spirit had changed this about him. Since Marik was both afraid of the dark and far less interested in ghost stories than Ryou was, he hadn't been enthused the first time Ryou had suggested they watch one. He'd clung to Ryou in fear the whole way through the movie – but then afterward had said he wanted to do it again with another movie.

_I don't think a horror movie will help me with this situation..._ Ryou was tempted in spite of this, just because of the opportunity to have Marik cuddled up against him, but he knew he had to stick to the plan. "We've seen most of the horror movies they have," he said. "I'd like to look around a little."

"Okay," Marik said. "Tell me if you find anything interesting." He wandered off into the store.

_Now I just have to find the right movie, _Ryou thought, wondering how exactly to go about it. He glanced at a few movies in the drama and special interest sections, but none of them fit what he was looking for. Some would make his state of mind far too obvious. Some were more explicit than he could comfortably watch in their confusing situation.

Others all-too-clearly featured angry and possibly even violent confrontations with parents. Ryou was always very careful to avoid these when choosing a movie to watch with Marik, ever since an incident involving such a scene that occurred a few months after they'd become friends.

It was the first time Ryou had ever seen Marik go completely blank. They'd been at the movies with the others at the time. The particular movie they'd been watching wasn't all that violent, but toward the beginning there was a scene where the main character had a heated argument with his father that ended with the father hitting the son. Marik had just... shut down, staring at the screen like he couldn't even see it. Ryou had noticed Marik had gone a bit quiet at that part, but he'd been paying attention to the screen and hadn't really seen how bad it was until the movie was over.

Joey had shaken Marik back to reality. Marik had blinked as though waking up from a deep sleep, and then asked when the movie was going to start. The others had told him it was over and made somewhat nervous jokes about him sleeping through the whole thing. They'd seemed to forget about it soon afterward, but it had stuck in Ryou's mind ever since that day.

_Well, I know what we __**can't**__ watch,_ Ryou thought to himself. He surveyed the store looking for a section that might be more fruitful, and ended up heading over to the comedies. _There has to be __**something**__ here, right?_

He eventually settled on a romantic comedy that seemed to have a gay best friend in it. It wasn't ideal (for many reasons), but his choices were limited.

"What did you get?" Marik asked, looking over Ryou's shoulder.

Ryou quickly turned around. "This," he said, handing Marik the movie.

Marik read the title, then flipped the case over to read the description. He looked up at Ryou in mild disbelief when he was finished. "You usually hate this kind of movie," he said.

"I wouldn't say I _hate_ them," Ryou protested, though Marik was entirely correct. He'd always felt the same way watching romantic comedies as he did when girls hit on him: awkwardly disinterested.

"_You_ would never say you hate anything," Marik replied with an amused smile. "I'm getting this one," he said, handing Ryou a horror movie.

Ryou read the back and immediately found himself far more intrigued by it than the movie he'd chosen himself. _That's not the point, _he told himself sternly. "It looks interesting," he said. "But would you mind if we watched the one I picked first?"

"Fine by me," Marik said, shaking his head in bemusement.

_I suppose I should have realized he'd wonder about it,_ Ryou thought as he paid for the two movies. _But it's too late now._

_

* * *

_They watched the movie as soon as they got home. Or rather, Marik watched the movie while Ryou discreetly watched Marik. Ryou still had to pay some attention to the movie, so he could know what Marik was reacting to, but he found it as boring as he found every other movie of that type.

Marik was engrossed in the thing, though. Of course, Marik was far more interested in the love story than the main character's best friend, though he did laugh at the jokes the man made and critique the advice he gave. "That's a terrible plan! If she tries to make him jealous, he'll just go for the other woman."

On the whole he didn't seem to care about the friend one way or the other. _At least I can say he isn't **completely** offended by the idea,_ Ryou thought, not having seen any negative reaction to the character, though Marik did look a little surprised by his dance with another man during the wedding at the end of the movie. It did little to boost Ryou's confidence, however; not being instantly offended was a good sign, but it didn't count for very much. It certainly wasn't enough for him to make a move.

"What did you think?" Ryou asked after the movie was over.

"I liked it," Marik said, stretching out his arms. "I'm still not sure why you chose it, though. You were barely paying attention."

"I was paying attention," Ryou said, shifting nervously in his seat. _I guess I was a little too obvious, _he thought.

"What was the woman's name?" Marik challenged.

"Um..." Ryou strained his mind for the answer, coming up with nothing. "I'm not very good at remembering that sort of thing," he said instead.

Marik shook his head. "Let's just watch the other movie."

They put the other movie on and turned off the lights.

Marik pulled a blanket over them, grabbing on to Ryou before the movie had even begun. "Do you think this one will be as terrifying as the last one we watched?" he asked.

"Maybe," Ryou said, rubbing Marik's arm. _I can still enjoy this right now, _he thought as they settled in to watch the movie. _But I'll have to figure out what he thinks eventually. I can't just leave things like this. I have to know where we stand._

Ryou pressed himself closer to Marik, shutting down his thoughts as they watched the movie.


	6. A Lack Of Calm, Followed By A Storm

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 6) – A Lack Of Calm, Followed By A Storm**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

The past several days had been tense. The bruise on Ryou's chest had transitioned from barely visible to fully healed, and so Marik's excuse for, well, _feeling Ryou up_ had finally disappeared.

Marik had gone a little nuts in response – or at least, Ryou assumed it was in response to that. Marik had been excitable for as long as Ryou had known him, but lately he'd been pushing the word 'energetic' to untold heights.

Ryou could barely keep up with all the things he wanted to do, and always felt incredibly slow in comparison to Marik's apparently boundless enthusiasm for _any_ physical activity that happened to be available. He ran from class to class instead of walking, yanking Ryou along with him. He often talked at hyper-speed. Even his motorcycle riding had gotten a boost – he'd always been prone to speeding around the city, but at one point that morning, Ryou had been certain they were about to break the sound barrier.

And those were only the things they did every day. Marik had developed a sudden, intense interest in a variety of other activities, like swimming, which he tried to convince Ryou to do with him every afternoon after some unproductively impatient studying. "It's good for our health," Marik had insisted.

_It's good for keeping you occupied,_ Ryou had thought, having witnessed Marik fidgeting in class all day. He'd agreed to go the first few times, but had stopped after it seemed to make Marik even _worse_.

Marik hadn't been interested in going on his own, and he'd quickly switched to other activities once Ryou refused to go with him. He'd spent one afternoon going through all the non-Duel Monsters games in the game shop. Yugi had been confused, but helpful. Unfortunately, whatever it was that Marik was looking for, he hadn't found it any of the games they'd played.

He'd followed this up with a trip to Kaibaland, where he'd worn out everyone in the place with his enthusiasm.

Ryou was starting to wonder how long Marik could keep it up. It was like he was perpetually fleeing from something, or like he thought he had a bomb strapped to him that would explode if he ever went below 100 miles an hour. There had even been a few moments where Marik had gotten a strange look on his face, and Ryou had wondered if his dark side was finally going to make a reappearance, but Marik had always dashed away before anything could happen.

Ryou had barely been able to have a normal conversation with Marik, let alone find out his opinion on the issue he was most concerned about.

_Maybe I should just ask him now, _Ryou thought, watching Marik gobble up their dinner. They'd ordered takeout for the fifth day in a row; Ryou didn't even want to contemplate the combination of Marik and a kitchen in the state he was in. Ryou poked at his own food with his fork.

"What's wrong?" Marik asked, his plate completely clear.

Ryou blinked. "Um... nothing," he said, feeling horribly indecisive. _I need to ask him now, _he tried to convince himself. _He might never slow down enough for me to get an answer, otherwise._ He wavered for a few moments under Marik's questioning gaze, then forced the words out. "I was just wondering what you thought about... about..." Ryou stalled, unable to finish the sentence.

Marik fidgeted, clearly trying to restrain his impatience. "About...?"

"A-about... um..." Ryou steeled himself. _I need to do this._ "About... love," he finished. _Close enough,_ he thought, averting his eyes.

Ryou could only see Marik in his peripheral vision, but the transformation was still immediately clear. Marik went still, his restless movements halting completely. He focused in on Ryou with complete attention. "Why?" he asked. "Are you in love?"

Ryou turned bright red. "No." He coughed. "Of course not." _I should have been more prepared to lie about this, _he thought regretfully, painfully aware of how obvious he was being. _Maybe he won't notice,_ Ryou hoped.

No such luck. Marik leaned over the table. "Who are you in love with?" he asked.

"No one," Ryou said, eyes locked down on the food in front of him. He took a bite of the food in an attempt to calm his nerves.

"So, you don't want me to know who it is," Marik said, frowning. He paused a moment before continuing. "It's not Ishizu, is it?" he asked, sounding... ambivalent.

Ryou choked on his food. He started coughing violently until Marik came over and clapped him on the back a few times. He swallowed the half-chewed bite down, then dropped his fork on the table. "No," he said emphatically, once he could speak again. "It's not Ishizu." Ryou soon realized how his insistence might sound. "Er. Not that I think Ishizu is unattractive. She's just..." Ryou trailed off. _Not you,_ he finished mentally. "She's your sister," he said aloud.

Unfortunately, Marik took that sentence a different way than Ryou had intended. "You shouldn't give up on her for my sake," he said. Several unreadable expressions flashed across his face, overwriting his look of discomfort. His face finally settled on growing acceptance. "I'd rather see her with you than with any other guy I could think of," he said with a small smile.

"That's not what I meant," Ryou said, feeling like the conversation was slipping away from him. "It's just that... um... she's your older sister, and she's a little like an older sister to me, too. I couldn't really feel that way about her." Ryou ran what he'd just said back to himself in his head and felt satisfied with what he'd come up with. _That should be good enough to convince him I wasn't talking about her,_ he thought.

_Wait... did he **really** think I was talking about her?_ Ryou asked himself with a frown. He'd thought the conversation had gone too far off topic to give him any real information about what Marik thought, but he realized that the way Marik had just responded could be a clue, too. And not a clue in his favor, unhappily. _Would that have been the first thing that occurred to him if he thought about me that way?_ Ryou wondered.

"You're really not interested in her?" Marik asked, looking somewhat relieved.

_But that's probably just because I don't want to date his sister,_ Ryou thought. _He'd be relieved no matter how he felt about me._ Ryou nodded at Marik. "Really."

"So, who _are_ you interested in, then?" Marik asked, curiosity returning fully.

"N-no one," Ryou said. He saw Marik opening his mouth again and quickly continued on. "Have you ever been in love?" he asked, partly to distract Marik, but also partly because he actually wanted to know what Marik would say.

Marik looked surprised. He pondered the question a brief moment. "No," he said, with a shake of his head. "I mean, I don't think so. I was too young when I still lived with the tomb keepers – and there really wasn't anyone other than my family, anyway – and after that I didn't care enough about other people to fall in love."

Ryou tried not to be disappointed. _I just told him I'm not in love with anyone. He might not say anything even if he felt that way. Or he might not consider it 'in love'._

_Or he might not be thinking about the past couple of years at all_, Ryou realized. "You've cared about other people the whole time I've known you," he said. _Not perfectly, maybe, but no one is perfect._

Marik gave him an odd smile. "Yeah," he said quietly. "It was a shock, caring about other people again."

"A shock?" Ryou asked. "What do you mean?"

Marik rubbed the side of his face. "Ah..." he said, as though he didn't know where to begin. "I mean... During the duel, when _he_ took over and had me trapped, I thought about Ishizu and Odion for the first time in a long time. I mean really _thought_ about them, what I'd been doing, the effect I had on other people..." Marik lowered his eyes. "And of course, that's when I found out what actually happened to my father."

Ryou wished he hadn't brought it up. "That would be shocking," he said, putting a hand on Marik's arm.

Marik rubbed Ryou's hand, then shook his head. He looked at Ryou. "Well, yeah. But that's not what I meant."

"Huh?" Ryou replied. _What could be more of a shock than that?_

"When I lost the duel, and _he_ got sent to the Shadow Realm, I felt completely changed," Marik said, tracing the outside of Ryou's hand with one finger. "I used to get so _angry_ about everything. Even when I started thinking about Ishizu and Odion during the duel, I was still angry. It dulled everything I felt."

"And after the duel?" Ryou asked, starting to feel a little uneasy. He still remembered his attempted conversation with Marik about anger, even now, after weeks had passed.

Marik beamed. "I felt great!" he said. "I almost couldn't remember why I'd felt so angry in the first place. It seems bizarre, now."

_How could you not remember?_ Ryou wondered, alarmed. "You're not angry about it now? Not even a little?"

Marik's face twitched almost imperceptibly. There was a small, unreal blip in the smile, but it lasted only a brief second, like a television losing its picture for a moment only to return to being completely clear. "Not even a little," he said. "Not at the Pharaoh, not at anyone. I could finally do what I was supposed to do."

"What you were supposed to do?" Ryou repeated. He didn't know what Marik was specifically referring to, but he was already certain he didn't like it.

"Show the Pharaoh what he needed to see," Marik said, looking a little distant for a moment. "Fulfill my destiny."

"Right," Ryou said, unable to come up with anything else. _He was thinking about his 'destiny' even then. I suppose that makes sense. But why didn't Ishizu or Odion know about this? Or do they?_

Marik shook himself out of his memory. "But anyway, once my anger was gone, it was like everything else expanded to take up all that space. It all felt so much stronger..." He tugged Ryou's hand off his arm and linked their fingers together.

"Like how you felt for other people?" Ryou asked, wondering what that would be like. He'd never been angry enough for it to affect his ability to care about other people, not even when he was being bullied all the time. _But I never experienced anything close to the torture he did,_ Ryou thought. _And the person I hated most wasn't someone I would ever want to care about._

"Yeah," Marik replied. "It was kind of overwhelming at first. Especially since I was so out of practice when it came to having... well, not _friends_, maybe, but people whose feelings were important. Not to mention all the things I'd done that I had to make up for."

Ryou nodded, easily able to sympathize with that sentiment. He squeezed Marik's hand and thought about what to do next. _This has to be related to his dark side coming back. People don't just suddenly stop being that angry and stay fine forever._

Marik was starting to fidget again. He rubbed their hands together, then glanced at Ryou with an almost overwhelmed look on his face. He dropped Ryou's hand and took a step back, combing his hair with his fingers. "I'm going to go for a ride. Want to come?"

Ryou ignored the alternate interpretation his mind wanted to assign to the invitation. "Not tonight," he said, already having a half-formed plan for what he would do after Marik left.

Marik didn't seem to mind. "I'll be back later," he said, racing out the door without waiting for a reply.

Ryou put the food away and did the dishes, thinking about his plan all the while.

* * *

Ryou looked at the clock, which told him it was nearly eight. _Ishizu and Odion should be done with dinner by now, but it's not too late to call._ _What do I say, though?_

Ryou knew that if he wasn't careful, he could give Marik's secret away, or at the very least make it seem like something was wrong. He'd run through several different scenarios in his mind, nearly giving up when none of them went well. _But I can't give up,_ Ryou thought. _This is for Marik._

He picked up the phone and dialed the number, deciding to improvise. _At least I'm doing this on the phone,_ he thought. _No one will be able to **see** if I'm lying._

The phone rang twice before someone answered. "Hello?" a male voice said. "Marik?"

_Caller ID,_ Ryou thought. "Er. No, actually. It's Bakura. Hi."

"Oh," Odion replied. "Did something happen to Marik?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

"No, it's nothing like that," Ryou assured him. "I was just wondering about... um..." Ryou flailed mentally. "Marik's been talking about being a tomb keeper, and I was just wondering what that really means," he finished.

The line was silent for several moments.

"Um. Hello?" Ryou asked, wondering if they'd been disconnected.

"I'm still here," Odion replied. "What has he been saying about being a tomb keeper?"

"Er." Ryou hadn't expected to be pressed on that point. "Nothing specific," he said. "Just that it's his... ah... destiny, and-"

"He used that word, 'destiny'?" Odion asked.

"Yes," Ryou replied, wondering if he'd wandered into something he shouldn't be talking about.

The line went quiet again. Ryou heard a sigh. "You told me he was thinking about this before, but I had hoped it was only a phase, and he would change his mind."

"Why?" Ryou asked. "Isn't the... um... the worst of it... over with? He's not going to have to go through anything like that again, is he?" Ryou's voice became somewhat horrified.

"No," Odion said. "You don't need to worry about that." He paused. "The problem is that Marik isn't suited for being a tomb keeper. He never had any interest in being one. He never believed in destiny, either."

"But he changed after his dark side was defeated, right?" Ryou asked.

"Yes," Odion replied. "He did. I didn't realize how much."

"He told me he felt less angry," Ryou said. "Did he seem different in that way?"

A small laugh echoed through the phone. "Of course. He seemed to be back to the way he was when he was young. Before the secrets were carved into his back. Happy. Friendly. Interested in everything."

"He _is_ like that," Ryou pointed out.

"Yes, but he also wants to become a tomb keeper," Odion replied. "He never wanted that before. The idea frustrated and angered him, even when he was young. It only got worse after he was initiated. I tried to calm him, but nothing worked."

"He seems fine with it now," Ryou said. _Maybe not **calm**, exactly. But I'm not sure that's related to not wanting to be a tomb keeper. Or is it? His dark side did come out and destroy that book..._

"He might be," Odion said, not sounding very fine with it himself. "I should have noticed how much he'd changed. His newfound patience should have been a clue."

"Patience?" Ryou asked. Patience was not a quality he associated with Marik in any significant amount. The idea that he was more patient now than he'd been in the past seemed almost impossible, particularly given what he'd been told about Marik's elaborate past schemes.

"Patience with others," Odion replied. "He used to become frustrated with other people very easily. Especially after... our father died. He preferred forcing or tricking them to do what he wanted over convincing them honestly. I was happy when he stopped."

"He doesn't have the Millennium Rod anymore," Ryou said. "It might have been influencing his thinking." _Probably best not to bring **him** up right now,_ Ryou thought. _And I wouldn't put it past a Millennium Item to actually have been messing with his mind._

"Perhaps," Odion said.

Another silence.

"I should really be going," Ryou said, starting to feel uncomfortable. "I'm... um... I'm glad we had this talk."

"Take care of Marik," Odion said.

"I'll do my best," Ryou said. "Goodbye."

Ryou hung up the phone and sat down on the couch to think about what he'd found had to do with the return of Marik's dark side, if anything. Some things seemed to fit, but he couldn't quite put everything in place. _So it relates to anger somehow? Was he angry at me all those times? Or was that the impatience his brother was talking about?_

Ryou just couldn't work it out. _I don't remember enough about the times he appeared. I remember what he did afterward, but I don't recall much of anything about what led up to it, other than the first time it happened. If he ever appears again, I'll have to make an effort to remember. Maybe even write it down._

The idea seemed so good to him that he went to his room and found an old, unused blank journal that his father had once given him as a present. _No reason I can't start with what I **do** remember, right now..._

Ryou sat down at his desk and got to work.

* * *

Ryou had recorded every incident in at least minimal detail by the time he heard Marik come through the front door. He quickly shut the journal and hid it under his mattress, then walked out to the living room. "Hey," he said. "Did you have a good ride?"

Marik stood near the door, fluffing up his still helmet-shaped hair with one hand. "Yeah," he replied, shaking his head wildly until his hair was normal again. "Here," he said, handing Ryou a bag. "I got you some cream puffs."

"Thank you," Ryou said, giving Marik a grateful smile. He took the box out of the bag and read the name on it, then blinked. "Isn't this bakery more than three hours away?" he asked.

Marik shrugged. "Only took me an hour to get there."

_He didn't go all that way just for me, did he?_ Ryou wondered, turning a little pink. _No, he already wanted to go out. He probably just rode off in that direction and happened to think of me when he saw the bakery._ It still made him feel warm inside. He loved his friends and thought of them often, but even after all this time, he still felt surprised to know someone was thinking about him when he wasn't around. "Thanks," he said again.

Ryou brought the box over to the coffee table and set it down. He sat on the couch, then lifted the lid of the box. He nearly drooled over what he saw inside. There were over a dozen cream puffs, all neatly lined up inside the box. "They look really good," he said.

Marik smiled, plopping himself down next to Ryou. "I knew you liked them. Last time we had them, you ate them all in less than ten minutes."

Ryou blushed. "I did not," he protested, though he had to admit Marik wasn't far from the truth. "Would you like one?" he asked, holding one of the puffs out to Marik.

"Sure," Marik said, taking the pastry from him.

His duty to share now fulfilled, Ryou dug into the box himself. He took one of the pastries from the box and bit into it, savoring the first bite. He chewed it slowly, then swallowed. He sighed in pleasure. "These are great," he said, looking at Marik.

For some reason, Marik had stopped himself mid-bite and was currently staring at Ryou with a cream puff hanging off of his mouth. He jolted at Ryou's glance as though caught, quickly finishing the bite he'd started. "Eeaah," he mumbled, mouth full of cream puff. He chewed a few times and swallowed. "Yeah. It's a good bakery. You have, um, cream on your face," he said, gesturing at the side of Ryou's mouth.

_I always manage to get it on my face, no matter how neatly I try to eat these,_ Ryou thought. _And he can be as messy as he wants and never have that problem._ Ryou licked the edge of his mouth, then wiped it with a napkin. "Better?"

Marik swallowed again before replying, though he didn't have anything in his mouth this time. "Yeah. You're good." Marik's eyes left Ryou's face. He fidgeted a little, looking at the cream puff in his hand as though it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen in his life.

Ryou turned his attention back to his own cream puff and it was soon gone. He ate the rest of the cream puffs faster and much more messily than the first. It seemed that no matter how the bites he took were, Marik was always pointing out a spot of cream somewhere on his face. Ryou did his best to lick them off or wipe them off with his napkin. He was successful until he reached the second-to-last pastry.

"It's a little more that way," Marik said, gesturing in the direction he meant. He looked oddly stressed; his whole body was tense.

"Here?" Ryou asked, dabbing in that direction with his napkin.

"No," Marik said. He reached out and caught the bit of cream with the tip of his finger. "Here." He brought his finger up to his lips and licked it off.

Ryou was momentarily entranced, but he looked away as soon as he could, face feeling hot. _It's probably not a good idea to start thinking about Marik licking things,_ he thought, picking up the only cream puff left. He chewed this one deliberately, wanting to enjoy the last one as much as possible. He could already feel the cream getting all over his mouth, but he decided to finish it off before worrying about it.

He swallowed the final bite and wiped his face. "Did I get everything?"

"Nnn. N-no..." Marik said, closing his eyes and clutching his head. "No... not now... please..."

"Marik?" Ryou went still for a moment before understanding what was going on. _It's been so long since the last time, I almost didn't recognize the signs,_ he thought as he started to back away.

But it was too little, too late. Not-Marik was on top of him in an instant, pinning him to the couch. "No," he said with a nasty grin. His tongue lolled to the side. His eyes locked on a point on Ryou's face, and he looked almost the same as the first time Ryou had ever seen him, back when he'd been about to bite.

Ryou grabbed not-Marik's hair in an attempt to hold his head away. He still remembered vividly how much that bite had hurt. "Why do you want to bite me?" he asked. He didn't really expect a useful answer.

"I don't want to bite you," not-Marik replied. He yanked one of Ryou's hands away from his head, ripping out several strands of hair in the process. He didn't touch Ryou's other hand, but Ryou let go in surprise, and soon both of his hands were pinned firmly above his head.

"You don't want to bite me?" Ryou asked. _He could be lying, but... he never bothered to lie about his intentions before._ "Then what do you want to-?"

Ryou froze in shock when he felt a large, wet tongue on his face. _Is he... is he **licking** me?_ Ryou asked himself. He would have panicked, but he couldn't completely bring himself to believe it. _Why would he be **licking** me?_

The tongue ran all over his face in a few sloppy movements. If Ryou hadn't known it was Marik's dark side licking him, he would have assumed it was a dog. The growl he made when he was finished didn't help matters any.

Not-Marik pulled back and glared at Ryou.

Ryou stared back at him. "Why...?"

Not-Marik growled again. "You had stuff on your face. It was _annoying_."

"Oh." Ryou was surprised at the logic in the statement, however bizarre. _It's more of a reason than he's ever given me before._ "Well, it should be clean now, so-" Ryou tried to shift himself out from under not-Marik, but was immediately shoved down. _Ow..._

"You're _always_ annoying,_"_ not-Marik said, eyes full of anger.

"Annoying how?" Ryou squeaked, having just had the wind knocked out of him. "What do I do?" he asked in a more normal voice.

"You're always..." Not-Marik broke off into a snarl, swiping his free hand across Ryou's chest and making several rips in his shirt. "You're always _sitting _there_, standing _there," he said, pushing down hard on Ryou's chest to emphasize his words. "_Being."_ Another push. "_Annoying._"

Ryou coughed. "Do I annoy Marik?" he asked. "Or just you?"

Not-Marik stared at him like the question made no sense. "You're _annoying,_" he repeated, then fell down on top of Ryou, body returning to normal.

_That wasn't really a very helpful answer,_ Ryou thought. He shook Marik's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Marik murmured, wrapping his arms around Ryou instead of waking up. He sighed softly.

_I wish we could stay like this, but..._ Ryou shook Marik again, a little harder this time. "Marik."

"What?" Marik asked, propping himself up on one arm and blinking repeatedly. He put his free hand to his head. "Ah..."

"Does your head still hurt?" Ryou asked, reaching up to touch the side of Marik's face.

"Yeah, it-" Marik abruptly looked down. "It happened again, didn't it?" he asked quietly. He rolled off of Ryou, sitting up at his side on the couch cushion. "What did he do? Does it hurt?" Marik touched the tears in Ryou's shirt, then lifted the front for a better look. "You're a little red, but it didn't break skin, at least." He rested his hands on Ryou's chest, but didn't move them. "Did he do anything else?"

Ryou felt a totally new discomfort. _How am I supposed to explain this?_ Ryou wondered. "Er..."

Marik's eyes widened a little. "What is it? I need to know, no matter how bad it is. Please."

"It's not bad. Not really," Ryou said. "It was more, uh, _strange_ than bad."

"Strange?" Marik asked.

"He... licked me," Ryou replied, staring at the coffee table.

Ryou couldn't catch the expression that crossed Marik's face right then. "He licked you?" Marik repeated cautiously.

Ryou nodded. "He said he didn't like the stuff on my face." Ryou chanced a direct look at Marik's expression, but Marik quickly covered his face with his hands.

"I'm so sorry," Marik said, voice pained. "I have even less of an explanation for this than I had for anything else."

"It's okay," Ryou replied. "It's much less painful than the other things he did," Ryou added, trying to look on the bright side.

Marik dropped his hands. "That doesn't mean you should have to put up with it," he said.

Ryou sat up. "Then we should figure out what's causing it," he said, trying to direct Marik's thoughts away from the more depressing aspects of the situation. "What were you feeling right before he took over?"

Marik's eyes drifted to the side as he tried to remember. "I don't know. I just felt the pain when my headache started."

"Do you remember how you felt before that?" Ryou asked. "Were you bothered by the stuff on my face?"

"Not really. I felt..." Marik trailed off. He crossed his arms, then uncrossed them again. "I don't know. I felt weird."

"Weird?" Ryou asked. _That could mean anything._

"Yeah. Weird," Marik said, absently tracing a finger over Ryou's stomach. "I've been feeling weird all week."

"Maybe he's been trying to get out all that time," Ryou suggested, trying desperately to ignore the way Marik was touching him. _Can't he do that after we talk about this?_

Marik's finger halted. He flattened his whole hand on Ryou's stomach. "Do you really think so?"

"I don't know," Ryou said. He took a deep breath before he continued, forcing himself to remain focused. _It doesn't matter where Marik's hand is,_ he told himself. "But he said that I'm _always_ annoying, so it seems possible that he's been trying recently."

Marik shivered. "I don't like the thought of him trying to come out all the time," he said. "But I guess it would be good to know he'll fail most of the time." Marik shook his head, then looked at Ryou's chest. "I haven't even helped you with your scratches," he said, hand drifting upward.

"Um. In a little while," Ryou said, reluctantly removing Marik's hand. "I have some reading I want to do. It won't take me long."

"Okay," Marik said, getting to his feet. "I'll get the things we'll need." He headed to the bathroom.

Ryou went to his room and closed the door, retrieving the journal from where he'd hidden it. _I need to get all this down while I still remember it._ He propped an open book on the bed next to him, so it would look like he was taking notes if Marik walked in.

It didn't take him long, and he soon went back out to the living room to receive his long-anticipated 'treatment'.


	7. Part Of The Family

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 7) – Part Of The Family**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Marik's dark side had returned with a vengeance – namely, a vengeance against Ryou's personal possessions. Since the Licking Incident, as Ryou had named it in his mind, not-Marik had gone back to ripping off shirts and destroying other seemingly random things of Ryou's, like his bath towels and his umbrella. _At least he destroyed the towels __**before**__ I showered,_ Ryou thought, feeling infinitely relieved that he hadn't had to face Marik's dark side while actually _in_ the shower.

And of course, every time not-Marik came out to destroy something, he managed to scratch Ryou as well. This meant daily 'treatment' of his scratches by Marik, which left Ryou as insane as it always had.

Ryou still couldn't make heads or tails of the things Marik's dark side had singled out for destruction, though he'd dutifully written it all down. He'd looked over everything he'd written several times even before Thanksgiving break had started, and he'd done it countless more times in the past few days he'd had off from classes, but he still didn't seem to be getting anywhere. _I guess I'm not going to figure this out any time soon,_ he thought, realizing that he'd be too busy the rest of the week.

It was Wednesday evening, and they were going over to Marik's family's house to eat dinner the next day – not Thanksgiving dinner, since no one involved really celebrated the holiday, but since the museum was closed along with everything else, Ishizu and Odion had thought it a good day to invite them over. _It'll be nice to spend the holiday with a family for once._

Previous Thanksgivings had always painfully reminded him of his lack of a family; holidays like Christmas weren't much better, but at least his father usually sent him _something_ to acknowledge their connection. On Thanksgiving Ryou had just been completely alone while knowing all his classmates were with their families.

_But not this year,_ he thought with a smile. He put his journal back under his mattress and went to look for Marik.

Marik turned out to be sitting on the couch reading, of all things, an anatomy book.

"Human Anatomy and Physiology?" Ryou asked, curious about Marik's sudden interest in the subject. _He's never seemed interested in biology before. But then, it wasn't a required subject last year. He had enough trouble keeping up with everything else as it was._

Marik nodded. "I don't really know that much about the body," he said. "Not in a real scientific sense, anyway. I had to learn to remove organs for mummification, but other than that... I'm completely clueless," he added with a frown. "The classifications we used were based entirely on ritual significance."

From what little Marik had told him of his early life, Ryou wasn't particularly surprised to hear this. "Is the book helping?" Ryou asked, sitting down next to Marik. The book looked like it was a high-school-level text, if not a college-level one. If Marik was really as unknowledgeable as he claimed (and Ryou had no reason to doubt it), it would probably be extremely confusing.

Marik looked ambivalent. "Ah... it's helping a little," he said. "I don't understand all of it, but at least I understand more than I did before."

"That's good," Ryou replied. "Are you thinking of taking a biology class?"

Marik looked uncertain. "Sort of," he said. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know..." he began, then stopped. "How do I say this?" he wondered aloud.

"Is something wrong?" Ryou asked.

Marik shook his head. "No, it's just..." he trailed off, then started over. "I don't like that _he's_ been hurting you," Marik said emphatically.

Ryou shifted uncomfortably. "I never thought you did..." he said, wondering where this was going.

"Good," Marik said, closing the book and setting it down on the table. "Because I don't want this to sound... um..." Marik sighed. "I'll just say it. I don't like that you're getting hurt, but I kind of like treating your injuries..." He glanced at Ryou's face.

Ryou blinked, not really surprised by what Marik had said, though he was surprised that Marik had actually said it. "You like it?" he repeated.

"Yeah," Marik said. "It feels..." Marik squirmed a little. "I don't know. But I think I would probably like it a lot more if it didn't involve _him_ hurting anyone."

Ryou nodded. "That would definitely be better," he said, heart lifting. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking about studying to become a doctor," Marik finished.

Ryou just stared at Marik for a long moment, barely registering what he'd said. _Why couldn't he have meant what I wanted him to mean, just this once?_

"What do you think?" Marik asked, looking like he was starting to question his own idea.

_I think you'd be the most inappropriate doctor to ever practice,_ Ryou thought, imagining the many, many lawsuits Marik would face if he tried to treat a patient the way he 'treated' Ryou. "It wouldn't be the same as when you... um... do that with me," Ryou said. _Please, please don't grope anyone else,_ he thought, his feelings a mixture of horrified embarrassment at the idea and irrational jealousy at the possible future patients. _It's not like they would **want** their doctor doing things like that,_ he scolded himself.

"I know that," Marik said, giving Ryou a funny look. "It's different with you." He continued on before Ryou could ask any further questions about that statement. "But I mean, do you think I could do it? Or am I too far behind to ever catch up?"

"You were able to get caught up in every other subject," Ryou said. "I'm sure it's possible if you study, but it might take longer than normal." It didn't seem fair that Marik's past still stood in the way of things like this. Of course, Ryou wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea, anyway. "Is how you feel when... uh... treating me... Is that the only reason you want to become a doctor?" he asked. It didn't seem like such a reason would be enough to keep anyone doing the work necessary.

Marik shook his head. "That just got me thinking about it. And then I started thinking about other things... like my mother..." He grew a little quiet on the last bit.

Ryou understood right away. They hadn't talked about it much, but Ryou knew that Marik's mother had died giving birth to him. "Do you think a doctor might have...?"

"A doctor, or maybe a little more knowledge," Marik replied. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't even know exactly why I... why it killed her," he said, looking distant for a moment.

Ryou put a hand on Marik's shoulder, not really knowing what to say.

Marik shook his head again. "But going outside wasn't possible then," he said. "So there's really no point in thinking about it."

_There's every point in thinking about it,_ Ryou thought. _And there's a difference between 'not possible' and 'not allowed'._ He opened his mouth, intending to make a less vehement objection, but Marik was already moving on.

"Anyway. A doctor could really help now," Marik said.

"Help the tomb keepers?" Ryou asked. "Does... does this mean you intend to go back and live with them?" His heart sank a little at the thought of his friend disappearing off into that world. _I thought he intended to fulfill his tomb keeper duties from a distance._

"Maybe," Marik said, looking a little vague. "At least some of the time."

"Couldn't they just use another doctor?" Ryou asked. He knew the tomb keepers didn't live all that far from a good-sized town, which likely had a doctor of its own.

"They're still not happy with the thought of interacting with the outside world," Marik said. "And outsiders aren't allowed underground, unless they become part of the family. Even Odion's had problems sometimes."

"So I couldn't visit you while you're there?" Ryou asked, liking this idea less and less.

Marik looked unhappy for a brief moment, but his face quickly returned to normal. "You could visit the town nearby, and I could come see you," he said. "Or I could stay in town, and go to them..."

"If that's what you really want," Ryou said. _Except I don't think it __**is**__ what he really wants,_ he thought. _How can I get him to see that?_ "I don't think you should rule everything else out right away, though. Maybe you should try taking a class and see how it goes?"

"That's a good idea," Marik said, taking out a notebook and writing something down. "I should take an anatomy class. Or maybe first aid."

"I could help you study," Ryou said, then tried not to cringe. _Did I really just offer to help him study anatomy? I'm starting to sound like Joey..._

Luckily, Marik didn't seem to notice anything untoward in the offer. "Thanks. I could use the help," he said, glancing at his book. "Have you decided what you're taking?"

"Er." Ryou hadn't been giving it much thought, though he knew he had to decide soon. "I was thinking about taking a psychology class," he said, thinking he might get some insight into what was going on with Marik. _Books haven't helped much,_ he thought. _Maybe if I put the right questions to someone knowledgeable, though..._

Marik's face became unreadable, and for a moment Ryou was worried that Marik had figured out the reason for his sudden interest in psychology. He'd been very careful not to let on that he was keeping track of the appearances Marik's dark side made and studying said appearances for clues. It wasn't that he didn't want Marik to know, exactly, though the thought did make him a little uncomfortable. No, Ryou's real fear was that Marik's dark side would find out and react badly. _Who knows what he'll do if he starts to consider me a threat? He'll probably destroy everything I've written, at the least._

But his fears seemed to be unfounded. "I don't know how you'll stand it," Marik said with a look of distaste. "What other classes? We should have at least one class together."

"Yeah," Ryou said, and the discussion turned to finding common subjects they were both interested in, or at least both required to take at some point. They soon brought out the course list and started looking over the times, and within an hour they each had a schedule planned. _I guess it wasn't as difficult as either of us made it out to be,_ Ryou thought afterward.

Marik stopped Ryou before he could go off to bed. "Are you sure you aren't interested in Ishizu?" he asked.

Ryou blinked at him. _Why is he bringing this up now?_ Ryou wondered. _We had that conversation ages ago._ "Yeah. I'm sure."

Marik looked strangely disappointed. "Okay. Good night..."

"Good night," Ryou replied, feeling somewhat confused. _Does he __**want**__ me to be interested in his sister? Why would he want that?_

Ryou shook the thought from his head and went to bed looking forward to their non-Thanksgiving dinner the next day.

* * *

The dinner was every bit as good as Ryou had expected it to be. Odion had once again enlisted Ryou's help in the kitchen, and together they'd made Marik's favorite Egyptian dish, kushari. Marik had eaten more of it than everyone else combined.

Ishizu pulled Ryou to the side while Odion and Marik were in the kitchen washing dishes.

"Do you happen to know why my brother has been singing your praises to me all evening?" Ishizu asked him with a small, amused smile.

"He's been what?" Ryou blurted out. "Er, sorry. I mean, what's he been saying?" Ryou asked again, fearing he already knew what direction this was headed.

"He's been talking about how kind you are, how much you've helped him over the years, how intelligent and responsible you are... "

Ryou blushed. He'd heard a few of Marik's comments about him, but none of them had been quite that blatant. "I'll, uh, have to thank him for saying such nice things about me," Ryou said, wishing he could go hide somewhere. "Though it sounds like he may have been exaggerating a little."

"He's certainly very sold on your good qualities," Ishizu told him. "Particularly your suitability as a husband."

"My w-what?" Ryou asked weakly. _What is __he trying to __**do**__?_ Ryou wondered. "Did he say that specifically?"

Ishizu nodded. "Do you happen to know why he decided to convince me of this?" she asked.

_I suppose it's too much to hope it's because he wants to marry me,_ Ryou thought. "I... well, he... I, ah, don't know what he's thinking most of the t-time," he stammered. "O-or any of the t-time, r-really."

Ishizu seemed to take pity on him. "I don't believe anyone does," she replied. "My brother's mind often works in strange ways."

_That's a bit of an understatement,_ Ryou thought. "He's probably just concerned about you," he suggested diplomatically.

"He probably wants you for his brother-in-law," Ishizu replied. Her tone was light, and she seemed more exasperated by Marik's antics than especially angry. "Is there a girl coming between you? Someone he might see as stealing you away?"

"No," Ryou said. "That's... um..." He cleared his throat. "That's not something he'll ever have to worry about."

Ishizu gave him a penetrating look, and for a moment Ryou wondered if she still had some power even without the Millennium Necklace. "I see," she said, in a tone that didn't really help matters any.

"Y-you do?" Ryou asked, feeling paranoid. _Oh, no. She can't really know, can she? I haven't even... I mean, I didn't really __**say **__anything. I just said-_

"Yes," she replied, as though the matter had been settled.

"I mean, I wouldn't let anything get between our friendship like that," Ryou belatedly explained.

"I believe you," Ishizu said with a smile. "We should return to the others before Marik starts planning our wedding."

Ryou's blush deepened. "Y-yeah," he said, following her out to the living room. Marik pulled him to the side as he entered the room, while Ishizu continued over to the couch and sat down next to Odion.

"What'd she say to you?" Marik whispered excitedly.

"Let's talk about it later," Ryou whispered back, too embarrassed to _think_ about it, let alone talk about it. _At least she seemed to know it was Marik's idea,_ Ryou consoled himself. He tried to put the last bit of their conversation out of his mind completely, but he couldn't help but recall it every time she looked between him and Marik. _What is she thinking about? Is she going to say anything?_

But Ishizu didn't say anything aside from normal conversation about other things. Both she and Odion seemed happy about Marik's choice in classes – though they really seemed more happy that he'd chosen classes at all than about the specific ones he wanted to take. Marik hadn't mentioned anything about being a doctor, and he'd confided in Ryou beforehand that he didn't want to mention it until he knew he wanted to go through with it_._

They quickly lost track of time as they talked, and before long it had grown very late. Too late for them to ride home, in Ishizu's opinion. "Why don't you two stay here for the night?" she asked. "Marik's old room is still as he left it."

"I don't want to be a bother," Ryou protested. "There's no reason we can't go home right now."

Thunder clapped in the distance. A thick slush, not quite rain and not quite snow, began to hit the windows.

_Okay, maybe there's a small reason..._

* * *

"You can have my bed," Marik said, leading Ryou to his room. He shut the door behind them and turned on the light.

"Where are you going to sleep?" Ryou asked, seeing the small twin-sized bed against the wall. Most of Marik's stuff was in his room in their apartment, but the remaining items were still very clearly Marik. A poster of someone on a motorcycle, another of an airplane, and a few of places around the world still sat at various points on the walls. Lavender sheets covered the bed. A small nightlight was plugged into one outlet, ready to be used at any time.

Marik started rifling through his closet. "There should be a sleeping bag in here somewhere," he said.

"I could sleep on the couch," Ryou suggested. He wasn't comfortable with putting anyone out of their bed, and he also wasn't very comfortable with the speculative look Ishizu had given them as they walked to the room.

"I found it," Marik said, pulling the purple bag out of the closet. He fluffed the bag up and laid it out on the floor.

"It's okay," Ryou said, moving toward the door. "You don't have to-"

Marik caught his arm. "The couch is too small," Marik said. "And I don't have any pajamas for you to change into, so..."

"I can sleep in my clothes," Ryou said, though he had to admit the thought of sleeping in his jeans wasn't exactly appealing. _I can't sleep with them off while he's in the room anyway,_ Ryou thought, turning a bit red at the idea.

"It's not like I've never seen you in your underwear before," Marik said, correctly interpreting the look on Ryou's face.

_Don't remind me,_ Ryou thought, the memory of Marik walking in on him completely naked forcing itself to his attention. "That's not the point," Ryou said. "I... I don't want to sleep in my underwear in someone else's house."

"Technically it's still my room," Marik said, with a slightly exasperated smile. "But I'm sure if we asked Ishizu and Odion if they wanted you to be comfortable-" Marik moved toward the door.

Ryou blocked the door. "Er. No," he said, holding up his hands in front of him. _Let's not bring other people into our conversation about me taking off my clothes._ "I'll sleep in here," he said, moving over to the bed and sitting down.

Marik snickered a little. "Good," he said, taking off his socks and setting them on his dresser. He followed this up with his jewelry, and then his shirt and jeans. Soon he was in nothing but his boxers. He sat down on the bed uncomfortably close to Ryou. "See? No big deal."

_That's not really helping,_ Ryou thought, quickly standing again and taking several steps away. "Y-yeah," he said, still facing away from Marik. He swallowed, trying not to think about how close to naked Marik was, or how those boxers looked like they could fall off at any moment, or how if they didn't fall off on their own, a good, swift tug would probably–

"Do you need some help?" Marik asked, draping a bare arm over Ryou's shoulder.

Ryou swallowed again, throat completely dry. "W-wha-?" he croaked, mind taking the current scenario in all sorts of inappropriate directions.

"Do you need help?" Marik asked again, shifting his arm off Ryou's shoulder and moving to stand in front of him.

This time the amused tone came through loud and clear – and so did the look on Marik's face. "Sorry, I got a little distracted," Ryou said, fighting the urge to run away. "I'll be done in a second," he added.

"Good," Marik yawned. "'Cause you're standing on the sleeping bag."

"Huh?" Ryou looked down. "R-right." He stepped off the sleeping bag and turned away. He removed his jeans, then folded them neatly and set them on the dresser next to Marik's messy pile of clothes. "There," he said, heading straight for the bed and diving under the blankets as quickly as he could.

"You sure you can sleep comfortably like that?" Marik asked.

"I normally sleep in pajamas," Ryou pointed out.

"True..." Marik turned on the nightlight, then put out the room light.

"Good night," Ryou said, shifting around to find a comfortable position.

Marik stopped over the sleeping bag, but didn't get inside it. He looked at Ryou. "Good ni-" He cut off and doubled over, head in his hands. "Ow..."

"Marik?" Ryou asked softly. He sat up and pushed the blankets away. _Is it? No, it can't be! He only ever comes out in our apartment!_

But Ryou's frantic thoughts couldn't change reality. The body in front of him soon doubled in size, and the head lifted to reveal the person Ryou least wanted to see at that moment. "No," not-Marik growled.

"What do you want?" Ryou whispered desperately, hoping no one else would hear. _Or should I want them to hear? Does he intend to hurt them? Should I be warning them?_ Ryou's panicked mind ran in circles, eventually deciding that shouting a warning would be a good idea.

Unfortunately, Marik's dark side didn't seem to agree with him. He pinned Ryou down on the bed, covering his mouth with a large hand. Ryou tried to push it off with both hands, but he wasn't strong enough to move it. Not-Marik barely seemed to notice his resistance, and promptly turned his attention to Ryou's shirt, ripping all the buttons off.

_What is it with him and my shirts?_ Ryou wondered. He stopped struggling now that he saw the familiar pattern. _If that's all he wants, Ishizu and Odion probably aren't in danger._

And surely enough, once not-Marik had gotten the shirt off Ryou, he shoved Ryou closer to the wall. "Sleep _here_," he ordered, then immediately collapsed next to him on the small bed. His body soon faded back to normal, leaving no hint that it had ever been different.

"Marik?" Ryou asked quietly.

"Mmm," Marik said, pressing their bodies together.

Ryou sighed. _I can't just leave him like this,_ he thought, body already reacting somewhat unfortunately to their situation. _What would he say when he woke up? What would Ishizu or Odion think if they saw?_ "Marik," he said again, putting a hand on Marik's bare shoulder.

"Nice 'n warm," Marik mumbled, snuggling in even closer.

_Maybe I should just let him sleep this time,_ Ryou thought, mind a little hazy from the physical contact. _He'll have so much more to worry about when I tell him about this... It would be better to wait until morning,_ he justified.

Ryou pulled the blanket over the two of them, determined to enjoy the moment of peace while it lasted.


	8. Aftermath

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 8) – Aftermath  
**Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M  
**Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou grappled with Marik, trying to pin his nearly-naked body down on the bed. He couldn't quite remember how they'd started wrestling in the first place, or why they were both in their underwear, but somehow questions like that just didn't seem all that important at the moment.

It didn't even matter to him that he was losing. Every time he tried to flip Marik beneath him, Marik found a way to stop him. Marik was slightly stronger than Ryou, and he kept rubbing their bodies together, distracting Ryou to the point that he couldn't put up much of a fight. The rules of the game seemed to fade from Ryou's mind, and he soon forgot that he'd even been trying to pin Marik down in the first place. It wasn't anywhere near as interesting as running his hands down Marik's back, anyway.

Ryou frowned at the roughness under his fingers, feeling distantly upset about it for some reason, but the emotion was fleeting, and it soon escaped him as his hands moved on to the smooth skin below. Marik smiled at Ryou from above, caressing Ryou's chest as he rocked their bodies together.

Ryou squeezed down with both hands to help him along, enjoying the feeling of Marik's muscles under his fingers. The lovely friction it caused didn't hurt, either.

Suddenly, Ryou heard a soft 'oh!' and felt Marik rocking against him almost frantically. It was only a few short moments before Ryou heard a low moan right in his ear, and the wonderful friction abruptly stopped.

_Huh?_ Ryou thought groggily, the soft moan kicking him back to wakefulness. As he came to, he realized that Marik's face wasn't above him, like he'd imagined, but was in fact sleepily nuzzling his neck. Marik's hands loosely gripped his arms, as though he'd been holding on for dear life only a few moments ago, but didn't need to any longer.

Ryou was so focused on Marik at first that he didn't even notice where his own hands had wandered while he slept. "Ah!" he exclaimed, jerking his hands out from under the back of Marik's boxers. Ryou's whole body turned red as he realized he'd been _groping_ Marik while they slept.

_Why did I ever let him sleep on me like this?_ Ryou asked himself, though the current effect Marik was having on his body gave a clear answer to the question of Ryou's poor planning skills.

Ryou flailed his arms around, almost afraid to touch Marik anywhere else after what he'd just been doing.

Marik groaned uncomfortably, stirring from his sleep. "Nn. What are you..." He was cut off by a yawn. "What are you doing?" he asked somewhat grumpily. He lifted his head to look at Ryou. His face looked a little flushed, though it was nowhere near the bright color of Ryou's skin at the moment.

Ryou flailed some more, wishing there were an easy way to wriggle out from under Marik without touching him. "I-I... I was just... I mean, I..."

Marik made an uncomfortable sound. "Ah... Don't move so much, it's..." He shifted a little, looking down at his boxers.

Ryou's eyes followed, and he blinked at the way the shorts were plastered to Marik's body. _Wait, so he actually..._

Marik seemed to come to the same conclusion. He exclaimed something in his native language, then immediately rolled off of Ryou and, unfortunately, off of the bed as well. "Ow!" he said as he crashed to the floor.

Ryou sat up, pulling the blanket around himself so he didn't feel quite so naked. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking over the side of the bed. He understood Marik's response very well, in a way – he'd been trying to escape their compromising position only a few seconds earlier – but in another way it puzzled him. _This sort of thing never bothered him before,_ he thought. _Is it just too extreme to ignore in this case?_

"I'm fine," Marik said, sitting up and pulling his knees to his chest. "Just feeling a little..." Marik paused, then breathed in and out, as though trying to calm down. "Why was I sleeping on top of you?" he asked, sounding distinctly confused.

"Er." Suddenly being confronted with what he'd put off the night before, Ryou was left completely without words. _How do I tell him that his dark side is getting stronger?_ "Well..."

"Wait," Marik said, a hint of fear in his voice. He'd spotted Ryou's shirt on the floor next to him, and now picked it up, looking at the torn garment like he couldn't believe what he was seeing (or possibly didn't want to). "What happened?" he asked again, an edge of panic to his words.

Ryou rushed to answer this time, knowing that whatever scenario Marik's mind had just put together from the available evidence was probably much worse than what had actually happened. "_He_ took over last night," Ryou said. He saw Marik's eyes widen and quickly hurried on. "He went after my shirt again, but that's the _only_ thing he did," he added emphatically. "He didn't even leave the room."

Marik looked only slightly reassured. "So, Ishizu and Odion-"

"He didn't hurt them," Ryou said. "They didn't even see him."

Marik seemed a little less panicked, but was still clearly uneasy. "That's really all he did?" Marik asked, looking from the torn shirt to his lap, then back at Ryou guiltily.

"Really," Ryou said, starting to feel embarrassed again. He averted his eyes. "And then he fell on top of me and you were normal again." Ryou cleared his throat. "You were already asleep and didn't want to move, so I just, um, left you that way," he explained.

"It was just a dream, then," Marik said quietly, sounding deeply relieved.

"You had a dream about him hurting me?" Ryou asked, wondering if it was some kind of communication between Marik and his dark side. _A threat, maybe?_

"Um. No. I meant what made me..." Marik waved one hand around in a confused gesture, then glanced down at his lap for a second. "You know, _a dream_," he said. His tone implied it wasn't especially important, but his eyes were locked on Ryou's face as though he was anxious to see his reaction.

"Oh," Ryou replied. He pulled the blanket around himself a little tighter, resisting the urge to bury his head under a pillow. "R-right." Ryou coughed. "I understand what you mean." It didn't feel like the best time to tell Marik that he'd had a little extra help outside of whatever dream he'd had. _We were both asleep, anyway._

Marik sighed and rubbed his face. "I'm sorry," he said.

"It's not your fault," Ryou was quick to assure him. "He's never taken over outside the apartment before. You couldn't have known he'd do it here."

"Why _did_ he take over?" Marik asked, sounding lost. "Why here, why last night?"

Ryou wondered that himself. "I don't know. My shirt was annoying him again, I suppose. But I don't know why he would..." Ryou frowned. _Wait._

"Have you thought of something?" Marik asked. It might have been Ryou's imagination, but he sounded a little wary.

"We were talking about what I was going to sleep in right before he took over," Ryou said. "Could he have been listening?"

Marik shrugged. "I guess. I don't know why he'd care, though."

_But you cared at the time,_ Ryou thought cautiously, his mind starting to make connections he wasn't entirely certain of. _And you wanted me to sleep the bed,_ he recalled, comparing their previous conversation with not-Marik's declaration that he should 'sleep there!'

_But I'd already decided to sleep on the bed, so that doesn't really make sense,_ Ryou thought. _Not that anything he does really makes sense..._

Ryou shook his head, turning his attention back to Marik. "How did you feel when we were talking?" he asked.

Marik looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tired," he said eventually. "I was ready to go to sleep."

_That's logical, but unfortunately not very helpful,_ Ryou thought. "Did you feel... weird?" he asked, remembering that Marik had described feeling that way before another of his dark side's appearances.

"A little," Marik said. "I was thinking more about sleeping, though."

Ryou thought back on the event again, the way not-Marik had shoved him to the _side_ of the bed taking on a new prominence. "Sleeping in your bed?" he asked. _Did... did he literally want to sleep with me?_Ryou wondered, the blush that had faded during their conversation returning to his cheeks.

Marik shrugged noncommittally. "I wasn't really thinking about where." He stood up carefully, holding Ryou's torn shirt strategically in front of him as he walked over to the dresser. He tossed Ryou's jeans over to him.

Ryou caught them, letting the blanket fall in the process. _Am I just making up a reason I want to be true? _Ryou wondered. _Or am I on the right track with this?_

Ryou watched Marik rifle through the clothes in his dresser, but turned around when Marik pulled out a clean pair of boxers to put on. _Let's not make this situation any more embarrassing than it already is, _Ryou thought, pulling his jeans on.

A bit of fabric landed on his head shortly after he was finished, and he turned back around to find Marik fully clothed. He pulled the cloth off of his head and looked it over. It was one of Marik's shirts – if something that small could even properly be considered a shirt, anyway.

"Your shirt is ruined, so you'll have to wear one of mine for now," Marik said ruefully. "I only have summer clothes here, but it's better than nothing."

Ryou wasn't entirely sure about that. _I'll look ridiculous in this,_ he thought, imagining himself wandering around with his stomach exposed for all to see. It seemed like both sides of Marik were set on causing him bizarre shirt issues. _He picked a much bigger shirt for himself,_ Ryou noted, feeling a twinge of exasperation.

"Don't you have anything a little less..." Ryou paused, struggling to find a word that wasn't insulting. "Er... fashionable?" he finished.

"More _boring_, you mean?" Marik asked with a teasing smile.

"Boring sounds good," Ryou replied, feeling there was nothing wrong with plain, normal clothes.

Marik shook his head, but gestured at the still-open dresser drawer. "Pick anything you like."

"Thanks," Ryou said. He looked through the drawer and quickly found a much less revealing shirt to wear. Actually, every other shirt in the drawer seemed to be less revealing than the one Marik had chosen, which made the choice seem even more absurd. _Does he really want to see my stomach that badly? _Ryou thought in a moment of irritation.

If not for the conversation they'd just had, the thought would have passed from Ryou's mind without being considered twice. But as it was, Ryou couldn't seem to let go of the idea. _It __**would**__ explain a great deal of his dark side's behavior,_ Ryou thought, glancing at Marik as he puzzled it over.

Marik shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "What?" he asked. "Not finding anything you're willing to wear?"

"Huh?" Ryou replied, having forgotten what he was supposed to be doing. "Oh, right. This one's fine," he said quickly, holding the shirt he'd chosen up for Marik to see, then putting it on. He surveyed the room afterward, looking for what they'd need to clean up before leaving.

They hadn't done much more than sleep, so there was really only the bed and the sleeping bag to take care of. Ryou started making the bed, setting the pillows neatly at the head. Marik saw what he was doing and rolled up the sleeping bag. He put it away in his closet, then helped Ryou with the blanket. Soon the room was much as it had been when they'd arrived, though Ryou's torn shirt and Marik's messy boxers sat in a pile on the dresser.

"What are you going to do with those?" Ryou asked, more concerned with the shirt than the boxers. "Ishizu and Odion will wonder how my shirt got torn up if they see it."

Marik looked around the room, eventually grabbing a cheap plastic bag. He shoved his boxers in the bag along with Ryou's ruined shirt, then added the shirt he'd worn the previous day. He knotted the top of the bag afterwards. "There. Just a bag of dirty clothes to wash at home."

Ryou nodded. "That should work," he replied, looking around the room one last time to make sure they hadn't missed anything. Finding nothing, his mind turned to other things. "It's time for breakfast," he said, walking toward the door.

Marik didn't follow him.

Ryou stopped at the door, then turned to look at him. "Marik?"

"What if I go out there and he takes over?" Marik asked softly, eyes focused on the floor.

Ryou hesitated, not sure what response he could give that wouldn't sound completely hollow. "He's never taken over in front of other people before," he said finally.

But Marik wasn't particularly comforted by this. "He'd never taken over outside our apartment before, either," he pointed out.

Ryou couldn't really argue with that. "Staying in here won't stop him from taking over," Ryou said quietly, hating how helpless they were to prevent it from happening.

"You're right," Marik said. He smiled brightly, clearly making an effort to be cheerful. He marched over to the door. "Breakfast?"

Ryou smiled back at him, then nodded. "Breakfast."

Marik opened the door, leading the way to the kitchen. "I hope they still have my favorite cereal," he said lightly.

"I'm sure they do," Ryou said, unable to imagine it being otherwise.

He followed Marik to the kitchen, pondering the theory he'd come up with about Marik's dark side. _It does seem to relate to Marik's moods,_ he thought. _But does it really fit in all cases? What about the times he wasn't attacking my shirt?_ Ryou knew he would need to reread the record he'd kept of all the previous times Marik's dark side had appeared.

Ryou also had a few half-formed ideas about how to test his theory, but all of them would have to wait until he and Marik got back to the apartment.


	9. Tests And Results

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 9) – Tests And Results**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.  
**A/N**: Sorry for the delay, everyone. The past few weeks have been hectic and this week was even worse. Anyway, here is the slightly belated chapter. It's short, sweet, and possibly a little evil ;)

* * *

When Ryou had experienced his epiphany about Marik's dark side, he'd assumed it would be easy enough to test his idea. He'd simply have to pick one of the few triggers he'd worked out based on the records he kept, and try to arrange a situation that would cause Marik's dark side to emerge.

He wasn't thrilled about the thought of trying to draw out Marik's dark side on purpose. He tried to reassure himself that it was in the interest of freeing Marik from his dark side, but it felt like he was betraying his friend all the same. Ryou had no idea what Marik would think of his plan if he knew about it.

_He might not even be able to acknowledge it as dangerous,_ Ryou thought. _Since that would mean admitting a connection between the things he wants and the things his dark side does. It's still better if I don't tell him, though. That way his dark side won't be forewarned, at least. _

Ryou attempted his first test the very afternoon they returned to the apartment from Marik's family's house. He immediately ran into a few problems.

The first problem was figuring out the best situation to set up for the test itself. He'd already figured out that Marik really liked seeing him without a shirt, and after looking through his list of previous incidents he'd figured out that Marik probably also liked seeing him get wet. The getting-wet part had confused Ryou at first, but then he'd imagined what _Marik_ looked like after getting drenched, and the desire had become more understandable.

The two consistent patterns were both easily tested – at least in theory. In practice, Ryou had a hard time figuring out a way to do it without making strange changes to his own behavior. At first he'd thought about testing his theory about the two sides of Marik trying to get him wet, but he had a tough time working out a specific test for it. _I can't just sit there with a bucket of water hanging precariously over my head and hope **he** comes out to dump it on me,_ Ryou thought. _For one thing, I'd have to explain why I put it there in the first place._

After wracking his brain for alternatives, however, Ryou eventually decided on a plan not all that far off from the dangling bucket of water. Late in the afternoon, he filled up a bucket with warm water and set it down on the coffee table. He then sat down on the couch with a textbook and waited.

He didn't have to wait very long. "What's the bucket of water for?" Marik asked him curiously.

"I thought I'd clean up a little when I'm done studying," Ryou lied.

Marik made a face. "It's not _that_ dirty in here," he said.

"We've never cleaned the floor, though," Ryou replied. For a moment he wondered if Marik would question his apparent decision to wash the floors without using any actual cleaning products aside from water, but he needn't have worried.

Marik shrugged. "I guess not," he said. "I'll get my stuff and study with you," he added, walking toward his room. He soon returned with his books and set them on the table.

Ryou could barely believe what happened next, though he saw it with his own eyes. Marik made as though to sit down next to Ryou on the couch, but then suddenly seemed to lose his footing and fall forward toward the coffee table. For a split-second, Ryou thought Marik would fall right on top of the bucket, but he ended up falling just to its side. As Marik hit the surface of the table, the bucket was somehow knocked upward, and, in blatant defiance of the laws of physics, _backward_ onto to Ryou.

_There is no way that wasn't on purpose,_ he thought irritably, wondering exactly how many 'accidents' Marik had fooled him with in the past.

It made Ryou aware of the second problem with his plan: namely, Marik himself.

_I suppose it confirms that he wants me to get wet,_ Ryou thought, _but if Marik keeps taking the bait himself, I'll never be able to see what effect it has on his dark side._ He sighed, rising from the couch to help Marik, who was still completely bone-dry, to his feet. "Are you all right?" he asked, having seen the awkward angle Marik had fallen on the table.

Marik rubbed one of his arms. "Yeah," he said. "I might have a few bruises later, but I'm fine. Sorry I got you all wet."

"It's okay," Ryou said automatically. _Was it really worth the risk of personal injury just to see me get wet?_ Ryou wondered, not entirely able to believe it. But then he remembered the way he'd felt about not-Marik's scratches and the personal physical attention they'd gotten him from Marik. _Perhaps he does consider it worth the risk._

"I'll get you some towels," Marik said, walking over to the bathroom.

"I'll be in my room getting new clothes," Ryou replied, heading in that direction. _He had to know I'd just dry off and change into something else,_ Ryou thought as he pulled a shirt, a pair of jeans, and some underwear out of his dresser, preparing to change his clothes for the second time that day. He unbuttoned his shirt. _It's not as though I'm going to __**stay**__ wet for any length of time. What is he hoping to get out of a few minutes of-_

"Here are the towels," Marik said as he walked into the room. "I can help you dry off if you want."

The nature of the plan suddenly became more apparent. Ryou turned a little pink at the thought of Marik drying certain parts of his body. "Th-that's really..."

But Marik was already rubbing the towel over his neck. "It's my fault you got wet in the first place," he said apologetically, giving no hint that it had been in any way purposeful.

_But it **was** purposeful. Wasn't it?_ Ryou wondered, starting to doubt himself. _Did he do it unconsciously, without even realizing it? Or is he just a very good liar?_ Either option seemed possible; he knew from the others that Marik had been a practiced liar when he'd been working with the Spirit of the Ring, but he was also well of Marik's problems figuring out his own emotions. _The existence of his dark side is proof enough of that,_ Ryou thought.

Ryou allowed Marik to continue drying him, the soft feeling of the towel against his skin starting to distract his mind away from the issue of Marik's honesty. He slid off his shirt with very little prompting from Marik, though his face did redden a bit further. Having Marik touch him had been enough to fluster him even when he thought Marik didn't mean anything by it; having Marik touch him now was a whole new level of confusing.

_What is he thinking about while he does this?_ Ryou wondered, watching the pleased, but intent way Marik ran the towel over his arm.

It wasn't very long before Marik finished drying the upper section of Ryou's body. He gave Ryou's wet jeans a questioning glance.

Ryou's imagination nearly went into overdrive at the thought of what it could lead to. _He'd want to dry off everything, right? We have to be thorough about this..._

But Ryou promptly thought the better of it. _Even if that is his intention, it leaves us in an even worse position than we're in right now. We shouldn't start something like that while we're still deceiving each other._

Ryou took a step back, grabbing the dry shirt from where he'd laid it out on the bed and putting it on. "Thanks," he told Marik as he slid off his jeans and underwear. He slipped the dry ones on just as quickly. "I think I'm better, now."

Marik nodded. "Good," he said, sounding less disappointed than Ryou would have expected.

_I suppose he's had enough practice to hide it even if he feels that way,_ Ryou thought."We can get back to studying now," he said aloud. He threw his wet clothes into the hamper.

"I guess we can," Marik replied, not sounding very enthused by the idea. He followed Ryou back out into the living room.

* * *

Ryou's first test may not have given him the information he wanted, but he wasn't about to give up. He altered his plan a little and tried it again the next day. And the day after that. And several more times, until he finally realized that no matter where he put the bucket of water (or cup of water), Marik would find a way to get that water on him, always apparently by accident.

Not only was Ryou's plan not succeeding in drawing out Marik's dark side, but if anything he seemed to be preventing him from appearing at all. Marik hadn't had so much as a headache since Ryou had started actively trying to get a reaction.

He knew he could consider it a form of success, if he wanted to. It seemed like he'd found a method of keeping Marik's dark side at bay, albeit a bizarre one. If getting water splashed on him every day was what it took to keep Marik from being possessed, Ryou was happy to do it indefinitely. He doubted it would work forever, though.

The more Ryou saw Marik's responses to the situations he set up, the more he started to wonder about their friendship overall. _Has he been doing things like this all along?_ Ryou asked himself. _Was his obliviousness always a lie?_

Ryou found himself remembering events he hadn't thought of in nearly two years, straining to figure out if Marik had been genuinely ignorant or merely pretending in order to ensure his new friends trusted him. The memories were too distant to give any new clues one way or the other, however. In the end, all Ryou could conclude was that Marik may well have lied in order to get them all to spend time with him.

_I'm not sure I can fault him for that,_ Ryou thought, recalling how difficult a time he himself had experienced when trying to get Yugi and the others to really consider him one of the group. Even after Ryou was no longer possessed, they'd often simply forgotten about him when it came to getting together outside of school. It was one of the reasons he and Marik had gotten so close.

Marik's need for help in navigating high school life had been another reason. _If he hadn't been so cheerful and curious, would we even be friends? __**Are**__ we even really friends if I don't know the real him?_ These questions tormented Ryou more and more often as the days went by. Final exams were almost a pleasant relief from the other things on his mind. Before he knew it, he'd finished the last of his exams and the semester was officially over.

Ryou, Marik, and Yugi went back to the game shop to celebrate afterwards. They greeted Yugi's grandpa and reassured him that they'd all done well, then went through the back to Yugi's room.

The room was very similar to how it had been when they were in high school, though with a few changes. College textbooks had replaced the high school ones, and there were considerably more pictures of Yugi with his friends. Duel Monsters cards and related items were still scattered all over the room, but they were now joined by some small Egyptian artifacts. Several new books about Egypt sat on Yugi's desk.

Marik plopped himself down on the bed. "I'm glad that's over with," he said.

"Me, too," Yugi replied, setting his bag down beside his desk. "What do you guys want to do now?"

Ryou put his own things down next to Yugi's. "We could watch a movie," he suggested, looking forward to something that didn't require a great deal of thought.

Yugi nodded. "You pick the movie," he said to Marik, grabbing Ryou's arm and tugging him toward the door. "We'll get snacks."

"Okay," Marik replied, walking over to the stack of movies next to Yugi's bed.

Yugi quickly pulled Ryou from the room and shut the door behind them. "Er. Yugi..." he said just outside the door, feeling a little bewildered at his friend's behavior.

"Let's go to the kitchen," Yugi said, heading in that direction. Ryou followed him, wondering what he was up to.

When they got to the kitchen, Yugi pulled out a bag of popcorn and put it in the microwave. Ryou stood patiently, waiting for his friend to explain. He only had to wait a few seconds, until the popcorn was going. "How's Marik doing?" Yugi asked. "You guys haven't been telling me what's going on with... you know."

"We've told you about the other times he's appeared," Ryou protested, though it wasn't entirely true. They _had_ told Yugi that Marik's dark side was still showing up, but neither Ryou nor Marik had mentioned everything that he'd actually done. They'd both instinctively kept quiet about the shirt ripping, especially the incident at the Ishtar home. Ryou hadn't said anything at all about what he'd figured out or about his attempts to confirm his theories.

"Not lately," Yugi said, sounding concerned. "What's he been doing?"

"He hasn't shown up recently," Ryou said.

"Really?" Yugi asked, voice and face doubtful.

"Really," Ryou confirmed. _At least that much is true._

Yugi took a large bowl out of the cabinet. "I hope this doesn't mean he's planning something."

Ryou frowned. It wasn't an idea that had occurred to him. "I'm not sure he's capable of planning anything," Ryou replied. Based on the interactions they'd had with each other, Ryou wasn't even sure Marik's dark side could even think more than a few seconds ahead, let alone wait patiently in order to execute a plan.

Yugi shook his head. "He was able to plan when we dealt with him before," Yugi said. "He couldn't do anything as complicated as Marik or B- uh, I mean the Spirit of the Ring," he quickly corrected himself. "But he could plan." The microwave beeped. Yugi took out the popcorn and emptied it into the bowl.

"I don't think he's that strong, yet," Ryou replied. _But he has been getting stronger..._

"I hope you're right," Yugi said. He smiled. "Let's go watch the movie."

The two left the kitchen and walked toward Yugi's room. They paused a few feet away from the door, both sensing that something wasn't right. The door suddenly flew open, and a cold wind blew through it, sending several ripped pieces of paper rushing out the doorway. Ryou and Yugi glanced at each other, then hurried inside.

The first thing Ryou noticed when they entered the room was the mess. Pages upon pages were scattered all around the room, their differing sizes indicating that they'd come from several distinct books. Marik's dark side had made a complete mess, and the wind blowing in through the open window had made things even worse.

But this was far less worrisome than Ryou's second observation: neither Marik nor his dark side were anywhere in sight.


	10. Chasing Phantoms

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 10) – Chasing Phantoms**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou stared at the open window for a long moment, the shock preventing his mind from providing him with a course of action. He eventually shook himself out of it and ran over to the window, hoping to see Marik – _normal_ Marik – safe and unharmed in the bushes below.

"Is he there?" Yugi asked hopefully, joining Ryou at the window sill.

"No," Ryou answered quietly, trying not to panic. _Where did he go? __**Why**__ did he go?_ Ryou thought frantically._ He's never up and __**left**__ before._

Ryou stuck his head out the window and looked around, praying he would see either Marik or his alter-ego somewhere farther down the street, but he had no luck there, either. Though the crushed branches indicated that someone had fallen on the bushes very recently, there wasn't anything else out of the ordinary about the scene below. "I don't see any sign of him," Ryou said, his feelings all over the place. On the one hand, the lack of an obvious trail meant they had nothing to go by in trying to find Marik. On the other hand, a complete lack of clues seemed infinitely better than a trail of blood or a noticeable path of destruction.

"He didn't even break the window," Ryou added, inspecting the area around the window. _That's good, surely? _Ryou thought. _If he has some control, he might not hurt anyone he sees._ The idea was comforting, but Ryou couldn't fully convince himself that it was actually true. Even it were, the thought that Marik's dark side had more control over his actions made Ryou uneasy in its own right, though he couldn't clearly articulate why.

Yugi went quiet for a moment before responding. "What if _he_ isn't the one who ran away?"

It took Ryou a moment to figure out what he meant. "You think Marik jumped out the window himself?" he asked, unable to believe it, but also aware that his disbelief might well be unjustified. _I know a lot less about Marik than I used to assume._

"It's possible," Yugi said unhappily. He shook his head. "We should be out looking for him," he declared, closing the window. "The longer we wait, the farther he can go."

Ryou nodded. "Where should we start?" he asked, stepping over bunches of ripped paper on his way out of the bedroom. "He could have gone in any direction."

Yugi followed behind him. "I'll call Joey," he said, heading for the phone. "Maybe we should call Ishizu and Odion," he added.

Ryou grabbed his hand before it could reach the phone. "We promised not to tell them," he said, distressed at the thought of betraying Marik's confidence.

"What do we tell them if he _stays_ missing, because we didn't ask for help?" Yugi asked.

Ryou let go, conceding the point. "You call them," he said, grabbing his coat and putting it on. "I'll start looking for him."

* * *

Ryou ran out of the game shop, rushing past Yugi's grandpa without even saying goodbye. He heard the old man call after him, but he didn't want to stop. He noted with a small amount of relief that Marik's motorcycle was still parked in front of the shop. _If Marik ever ran off by himself, he would never leave that behind. _

Once outside, he immediately went to the spot under Yugi's window, hoping a closer inspection would give more hints about where Marik's dark side might have gone. There were a couple of indentations next to the bushes that looked like they might have come from feet, so Ryou headed in the direction they led. _I hope he didn't change direction after these two steps, _Ryou thought.

The path took him directly to a nearby intersection. Ryou looked down every possible direction, but the trees along the streets prevented him from seeing too far away, and there didn't seem to be any clues about which way to go. His mind really wanted to panic, but Ryou forced himself to remain calm. _I'll never find him if I can't think about this rationally._

Ryou looked around some more, trying to figure out if any direction might appeal more to Marik's dark side more than the others. _But is he just trying to get as far away from here as possible, or is he going somewhere specific?_ Ryou wondered. _If he's going somewhere specific, it wouldn't matter how appealing any of the streets are._

Ryou was about to give up and choose a direction at random, when he saw the proprietor of the corner store he was standing in front of staring at him through the window. _I wonder if..._

Ryou ran inside and raced over to the counter. "Um. Excuse me. I'm really very sorry to bother you, but-"

"Is something wrong, young man?" the old man cut him off.

"Er," Ryou replied, not wanting to say yes, however true it might be. "I'm looking for my friend, and I was just wondering if you saw which direction he went in."

"What does your friend look like?" the old man asked.

"Well," Ryou began, summoning up an image of Marik's dark side in his mind. "He's blond. And a little scary looking..."

"That punk was your friend?" the old man asked, looking Ryou up and down like he couldn't believe it.

_At least I know we're talking about the same person,_ Ryou thought. "Um. Sort of. So you've seen him, then?" At the man's nod, he continued: "Which way did he go?"

"That way," the man said, gesturing to indicate that he'd disappeared to the left side of the window.

"Thanks," Ryou said, racing back to the door. He hesitated a moment before going through it. "Did he see you?" he asked the shopkeeper, wondering if they'd had any actual interaction.

The shopkeeper shook his head. "No. And I'm glad he didn't. Your friend looked ready to kill someone."

Ryou hoped the words wouldn't turn out to be prophetic. He nodded grimly at the old man. "Thanks again," he said as he headed back out the door.

Ryou turned the corner in the direction the shopkeeper had indicated and looked ahead down the street. _Why this way? _Ryou wondered, trying to remember if there was a place in that direction that Marik's dark side might want to get to. _Or is it just that this direction has the least traffic?_

Ryou ran down the street, looking down every alley and street he came across. He continued down the same street, only turning when there was a bend in the road, since without actually seeing Marik's dark side, he didn't have a logical way of choosing any one of the intersecting streets over any other. He hadn't met any other people while walking down the lonely residential street, so he couldn't even ask if anyone had seen anything, like he had with the shopkeeper. After going several blocks without any clues whatsoever, Ryou started to wonder if it was simply hopeless.

He was considering turning around and going back to the game shop when he heard a dog barking somewhere off to the left. He jogged around the corner and found an elderly woman and a small, yapping dog standing next to an unconscious figure on the sidewalk. "Marik!" Ryou ran over to his friend and knelt down on the ground next to him.

The dog started yapping at him. "Shush, Pip," the old woman ordered the dog. The dog ignored the command, but was forced to move away from Ryou when the old woman pulled on the leash. "Do you know this man?" she asked Ryou.

"Yes," Ryou replied, rolling Marik over so he was on his back. His head wasn't as bad as Ryou had been expecting; it appeared to have been cushioned by Marik's arms as he fell, instead of hitting the the hard concrete directly. Marik's arms were badly scraped up, and he'd taken a likely unpleasant hit to the nose, but it could have been much worse.

"Your friend looks nothing like this when he's awake," the old woman said, rubbing at her glasses as though she thought it would fix the apparent contradiction in Marik's appearance.

"What happened?" Ryou asked, pillowing Marik's head in his lap and looking for further injuries. He was relieved to see that Marik was breathing normally. Marik shivered a little; Ryou immediately removed his coat and put it on top of him.

"Your friend was storming down the street like he was looking for trouble," the woman said. "But the moment he saw me and Pip come out of the house, he fainted dead away. I guess he's not as tough as he looks."

Ryou frowned in thought. _He's never come out in front of other people before. Even at the game shop, he waited until Yugi was out of the room._ _What is it about other people that keeps him away? And why doesn't it work with me?_

"Should I call an ambulance?" the woman asked Ryou, walking up to the steps of what must have been her house.

Ryou thought about it for a moment. _He's always woken up on his own eventually. I'm not sure paramedics could even **do** anything._ He gently rubbed the side of Marik's face. "Um. No," he decided. "He doesn't need an ambulance, but if you could call-"

A car suddenly came speeding down the street, the noise drowning out what Ryou had intended to say. The car came to a screeching halt several feet away from them, as though the driver had caught sight of them while passing by and decided to hit the brakes, _hard_.

"Marik!" cried two voices, one male, one female. Ishizu and Odion ran over to them, crouching down next to Marik's unconscious body.

"He's okay," Ryou tried to assure them. "A little scratched up from the fall, but he's still breathing."

Odion promptly picked Marik up and carried him over to the car without saying a word.

"Thank you for finding him," Ishizu told Ryou before rushing to the car herself. She opened the rear door of the car so that Odion could lay Marik down in the back seat.

"Where are you taking him?" Ryou asked, joining them at the car. He waved at the elderly woman still on the sidewalk so that she would know it was alright to continue with her walk.

Ishizu and Odion looked at each other in an apparently non-verbal consultation. "Yugi's home is closest, and Marik's other friends are still worried about him," she said finally, getting in the driver's seat of the car and gesturing for Ryou to sit in the passenger's seat. Ryou complied immediately. He wondered for a moment where Odion was going to sit, but the large man simply lifted Marik's head and slid onto the seat beneath him.

The moment all seatbelts were buckled, they took off down the block, screeching around the corner and speeding down the street toward the game shop.

* * *

The ride back to the game shop took either 5 seconds or 100 years. Ryou wasn't entirely sure which it was.

On the one hand, the ride to their destination had taken place at such a terrifyingly high speed that it seemed to take _forever_ for them to stop. On the other hand, they'd been going far too fast for the ride to actually have taken all that long. Ryou supposed that speeding must be an Ishtar family trait, though he had to admit that Ishizu might only have been reacting to the situation.

They got out of the car when they reached the game shop. Ryou ran ahead to hold the door open, and Odion carried Marik inside. Ishizu followed behind them.

"Is he alright?" Yugi's grandpa asked, running out from behind the counter to meet them.

"We think so," Ryou replied, looking at the others a little nervously. Odion still hadn't said a word since they'd found Marik, and Ryou was starting to wonder what was going on in his mind.

"Hurry up and bring him inside," Solomon replied, gesturing to the door at the back of the shop.

They wasted no time in getting Marik into the home behind the shop. When they reached the living room, Odion set Marik down on the couch.

"Yugi and Joey are still out looking for him," Solomon informed them. "I'll try to call them back," he added, walking toward the door to the shop. "Bakura knows where everything is."

"I'll get some bandages," Ryou said, running to the bathroom. He seized the first aid kit and ran back out to the living room, setting the box down on the coffee table. He took out a few packets of sanitizing wipes to clean the dried blood off of Marik's arm. Odion took a packet of his own and worked on Marik's other arm. Ishizu watched from a few feet away.

They soon had Marik's arms cleaned and bandaged. Odion took care of his nose, first making sure that it wasn't broken, then cleaning it up and putting a small bandage over the top. While Odion was doing that, Ryou went to find a blanket to put on top of Marik, concerned about the amount of time he'd been out in the winter cold without a jacket. _He doesn't seem to be doing doing that badly, but then, his dark side was out in the cold far longer than he himself was. I suppose his dark side doesn't have to care about things like cold weather._

Ryou took the blanket from Yugi's closet and brought it back to the living room. Seeing that Odion was finished, Ryou laid the blanket on top of Marik and stepped back. Odion made a few minute adjustments, then turned and walked directly over to Ryou.

"Now," he said, his face completely unreadable as he towered over Ryou. "You will tell me what has been going on with my brother."

It wasn't a request, nor was it a question. It was a calm, simple statement of fact, because, as the look in Odion's eyes indicated, Ryou wasn't going anywhere until he explained precisely what had been happening in Marik's life that had built up to this particular event.

"Er." Ryou was, of course, completely and utterly unprepared to provide such an explanation off the top of his head. He didn't even know where to begin. His knees gave out a little, and he collapsed in the nearest chair. "J-just give me a minute," he said.

Odion nodded, not moving from where he stood. "I will wait."

Ryou looked from Odion to Ishizu and back again, then buried his face in his hands. _Of course you will._

He sighed mentally, then set about coming up with a coherent explanation of the events of the past few months. It wasn't going to be easy.


	11. Three Heads Are Better Than None

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 11) – Three Heads Are Better Than None**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

After about a minute or so, Ryou lifted his head from his hands, no more clear on how to explain the situation than he had been the minute before. He looked at Marik's sleeping form on the couch and wondered how much his friend would want him to say. _They already know more than he wanted them to, but at this point we just can't keep them in the dark anymore._

Ryou wished he knew how Ishizu and Odion would react to the information – he had the semi-irrational fear that he might say something that would ruin Marik's relationships with his siblings forever. Ryou's own father had all but abandoned him when the spirit had started causing trouble, after all. _But Ishizu and Odion aren't like my father,_ Ryou reminded himself. _Odion stayed with him knowing he'd __**killed**__ someone, and he even followed Marik all the way through his insane revenge scheme. Ishizu didn't give up on him either. What's happening right now can't be any worse than what they've already gone through together._

Ryou sighed, then looked up at Odion's patient face. "Er. How much did Yugi tell you?"

"He said that Marik's dark side had returned, and that Marik had gone missing," the man replied. He sounded calm, but his eyes were focused sharply on Ryou. "He implied that it wasn't the first incident."

"No," Ryou acknowledged. "It wasn't."

"He's disappeared like that in the past?" Odion asked.

"Huh?" Ryou replied. "Oh. No, he's never gone off like that before," Ryou clarified, starting to realize just how little Yugi had actually told them. _No wonder they were so frantic. Then again, I wasn't exactly much calmer._ "I meant that his dark side came back a while ago."

"When?" Odion asked, giving Marik's sleeping form a concerned glance before returning his focus to Ryou.

"Um. October?" Ryou replied, as though he couldn't quite believe it himself.

Odion's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "October?"

"October," Ryou replied, more firmly this time.

A series of emotions flashed across Odion's face before it returned to its normal expression. Ryou was expecting him to demand to know why Marik hadn't told him, or why Ryou himself hadn't told anyone, given how serious the situation was, but the demand didn't come. _I suppose it's fairly obvious to him why Marik wouldn't want to say anything, _Ryou thought.

"How often?" Odion asked instead, tone as level as ever.

"It's hard to say," Ryou said, wondering if he should mention the records he'd been keeping. _I haven't even told Marik about that,_ he thought. _I'll keep it to myself for now. I can always mention it later, if necessary._ "He doesn't come out on a consistent schedule."

Odion nodded, as though he'd already thought as much. "But it has happened more than once?"

"Yes," Ryou agreed.

"Were you there the first time he reappeared?" Odion asked. The look he gave Ryou wasn't accusing, but it wasn't very comforting, either.

Ryou tried not squirm under the intense gaze. He didn't like having that much attention focused on him; it never seemed to lead anywhere good. "Yes," he said quietly, taking a moment to be glad that Yugi and Joey hadn't returned yet. Having them looking to him for an explanation of the situation as well would have been even worse.

"What happened?" Odion asked.

"Er." Ryou took a deep breath. "We were at the apartment..." Ryou gave a brief explanation of the incident. He told Odion about the wrestling and how it led up to the bite, but he left out any personal speculation about why Marik's dark side might have emerged at that particular moment, or why he may wanted to bite Ryou.

"He bit you?" Odion asked. His eyes drifted away from Ryou's face as he appeared to consider what he'd just been told.

"Yes," Ryou said.

Odion frowned. "Did my brother feel threatened by you while you were wrestling?" He looked Ryou over for a second, seeming to find the answer to his question before Ryou could even respond.

"I don't think so," Ryou said. "He... um, the _other_ him, I mean... once told me that Marik could overpower me any time he wanted to."

Ryou was surprised at the sudden sharp looks from both Ishizu and Odion.

"He spoke to you?" Ishizu asked.

"Not that first time," Ryou explained, wondering if he'd said something wrong. _Are they angry at me for trying to talk to him, or just surprised that it happened at all?_ Ryou wondered. "But some of the other times..." Ryou summarized not-Marik's other appearances as succinctly as possible. He glanced from Odion to Ishizu as he spoke, feeling especially nervous about Ishizu's possible response to the shirt-ripping. _She already seems to know how I feel,_ he thought, remembering the conversation they'd had not all that long ago. _What would she think about __**Marik's**__ possible feelings?_

But neither Ishizu or Odion seemed to have come to the conclusion Ryou had, and something else took up far more of their attention than not-Marik's apparent obsession with Ryou's clothing. "He appeared in our house?" Ishizu repeated, after Ryou had finished telling them about the last time Marik's dark side had emerged.

Ryou nodded. "Only for a minute or so. He was after my shirt again." He didn't feel the need to inform them about what happened afterward, though he couldn't repress the blush that came at the memory.

Odion took in the blush, then caught Ryou's eye. "What else?" he asked plainly.

"Nothing else," Ryou said, feeling the unpleasant, weighty sensation he always experienced when dancing around a secret. Normally he'd try to change the topic of conversation, since it was the easiest way to avoid accidentally giving something away, but he could tell that neither Ishizu nor Odion was about to let that happen any time soon.

Odion frowned again, seeming unsatisfied with the response. "Did he try to leave the room?"

"No," Ryou replied. "He just sort of... um... collapsed on top of me," he added, turning even more red. He wanted to avert his eyes, but he felt that it would make him look even more suspicious.

"And then...?" Odion prodded, clearly thinking there had to be more to it for Ryou to have had such a strong reaction.

"Er. Well. H-he was already asleep, s-so..." Ryou trailed off. He really, _really_ didn't want to go into what had happened later. His whole body felt like it was on fire just from the thought of it, and he didn't think he could handle any more embarrassment. _Not to mention how Marik might feel about them hearing about it,_ Ryou thought.

"You left him where he was?" Ishizu finished, seeming to take pity on him.

Ryou nodded gratefully. He glanced at her face and saw that she appeared satisfied with the explanation. She seemed to accept the accidental sleeping arrangement as something that would lead to Ryou's current awkwardness around the topic, without needing to press him for further details about it.

Odion, however, clearly didn't agree with her. He looked confused for a moment, as though he didn't see why Ryou would react so strongly to the memory of Marik simply falling asleep on top of him. It probably didn't help that Ryou had described every other incident, except maybe the _licking_, with far less obvious embarrassment than he was showing right then. Odion looked at Ryou appraisingly.

Ryou did his best to look normal.

Odion shook his head slowly, as though he still didn't see what all the fuss was about, but he did think Ryou might be strange enough to get that worked over something so minor. "And you don't have any idea what has been drawing out his dark side?"

Ryou shook his head, no more willing to reveal his theory about that than he was to reveal what had happened after he and Marik fell asleep together.

"You hadn't done anything to harm Marik before the first incident?" Odion asked. He didn't sound like he actually suspected Ryou of having done such a thing – it sounded more like he wanted to rule it out.

"No," Ryou replied. He'd gone over the possibility in his mind so many times over the past few months that he could answer the question immediately.

"Tell us more about what happened today," Odion said.

"Um." Oddly, Ryou had a more difficult time recalling what had happened today than he'd had with every other time. He'd gone over the other incidents in his mind multiple times and could easily describe them in detail. But he'd gotten so caught up in the search for Marik after he'd gone missing that he'd given very little thought to what had happened _before_ Marik's dark side had run off. "Yugi probably already told you most of it. Marik's dark side came out while we were out of the room, ripped up Yugi's books, then left through the window. We didn't take time to look more closely," Ryou said. "We could do it now," he added, though he gave Marik's sleeping form a concerned glance.

"I'll stay with Marik," Ishizu volunteered.

"Thank you," Ryou replied, feeling relieved that someone would be there to keep an eye on Marik. _Even if his dark side isn't likely to reappear soon, we shouldn't leave him to wake up alone, wondering how he got to where he is and why he's injured._ Ryou got to his feet, then turned to Odion. "I'll show you where it happened."

Ryou led Odion to Yugi's room. He picked up a few of the papers that had blown out of the room earlier, then went inside. "The window was open. He was already gone by the time we came back," Ryou said. He looked at the torn pages in his hand and was unsurprised by the subject matter. _Books about Egypt. Just like last time._

Odion knelt down on the ground and picked up a few pages himself. He didn't say anything, but Ryou thought he was probably coming to similar conclusions about what had angered Marik's dark side this time.

Ryou looked around the room, trying to fit the incident into the larger pattern of events. "It's the first time he's destroyed anyone's property aside from mine," Ryou thought aloud.

Odion interrupted him. "No, it isn't."

Ryou blinked in surprise. "It isn't?" he asked, wondering what he'd missed. _Has he been appearing more often than I realized?_ Ryou wondered. _But Odion didn't seem to realize he'd even returned until today..._

But Odion meant something entirely different. "He did things like this soon after he came into existence. When he still wasn't strong enough to attack our father."

"Oh," Ryou replied. He hesitated for a moment, then asked the question at the front of his mind. "Do... do you think he's likely to do something like that again?"

"I don't know," Odion said. He stood, then looked at Ryou seriously. "But you are in the most danger."

"Me?" Ryou said, with more surprise than he knew was warranted. _Of course it would be me. I'm the __only one who's even seen him, aside from the lady who caused him to faint._

Odion's thoughts echoed his. "You are the one he's focused on so far. You're also the only one he's attacked directly since his return."

"You mean the bite?" Ryou asked.

Odion nodded, but he seemed a little puzzled. "I'm not sure what it means. The bite is strange behavior for him."

"It... is?" Ryou asked slowly, not seeing it as strange behavior at all. If anything, it fit in perfectly with everything Ryou knew about Marik's dark side. "I thought the, uh, l-licking was stranger."

The expression on Odion's face showed that he agreed with Ryou on that point. "They are both strange," Odion acknowledged. "But I meant it's strange that he attacked you, but didn't kill you outright."

Ryou froze. "But... he doesn't have that ability yet. Does he?"

"I don't know," Odion said, rubbing his chin. "The first person he ever attacked was our father. He killed him during that first opportunity. There was no in-between, where he attacked someone without killing them."

"O-oh." Ryou felt a spike of fear, which he tried to convince himself was unjustified. "Doesn't that suggest that he doesn't want to kill me?" Ryou asked lamely.

Odion was silent for a moment. "Maybe," he said finally. "This isn't a situation that's happened before." Odion paused. "He told you that you annoy him?" he asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Yeah," Ryou said, unable to forget the incident. He'd gone over the possible meanings of 'annoy' in light of his new theory plenty of times in the past couple of weeks, but hadn't come to a satisfactory conclusion about what Marik's dark side had meant. He was fairly clear on what Marik himself had been feeling, but he didn't think that necessarily meant his dark side had been feeling the same thing. _I... would hope not,_ he thought warily, imagining Marik's dark side lusting over him. He cringed at the idea. _It's more likely that he's just angry with me for how I make Marik feel,_ Ryou assured himself.

"But he didn't say that he hated you," Odion said. "Or wanted to kill you."

"No, I don't think he did," Ryou said, after thinking it over for a moment. "Is that important?"

"I hope so," Odion said quietly. He turned his attention back to the room, surveying the mess.

Ryou followed his line of vision, noticing for the first time that Marik's dark side had destroyed more than books. "The artifacts," he said softly, picking one up from where it had been thrown to the floor. It was a small statue of an Egyptian god – though it was a little difficult to tell which one now that the head was missing.

He looked around some more, seeing several suspicious lumps under the papers scattered around the room. Ryou winced. He still had no intention of becoming an archaeologist, but the horror he felt at seeing priceless artifacts destroyed had been instilled in him at a very young age. _He really shouldn't have been keeping these in his room,_ Ryou thought. _Even without our current problem, they could still have been easily damaged here._

"Let me see that," Odion said.

Ryou handed him the statue.

Odion looked at it from several angles. "Ra."

"You can tell?" Ryou asked. "Even without the head?"

"It's one of ours," Odion replied. "Ishizu lent it to him."

Ryou winced again, though he thought Odion was taking the destruction of one of their artifacts extraordinarily well. _I suppose it's better that Marik's dark side destroyed one of his own family's artifacts instead of someone else's, but still._ "Are the others yours, too?"

"Most likely," Odion said. "But I will have to see to be certain."

Ryou nodded, and started gathering up the papers on the floor. Odion joined him, and they soon had the ripped pages in a neat pile out of the way, making it easy to see the rest of the damage. There were a few broken bowls and several more broken statues at various points on the floor. In wordless agreement, Ryou and Odion gathered up the broken bits and pieces and set on the desk.

They piled the broken pottery shards in one corner of the desk, then laid the statues out on the rest of the surface. When they were finished, Ryou noticed something a little odd. There were six statues in total, all broken, but only half had all their pieces present and accounted for. He recognized the three as Ma'at, Thoth, and Osiris respectively. "The heads on these are still missing," he said, pointing to the other three statues, including the one Odion had said to be Ra.

"They may be somewhere else in the room," Odion replied.

They continued looking for the heads, without success. After several minutes, Yugi appeared in the doorway, looking winded, but relieved. "Hey, guys," he said. "I'm glad you found Marik. We were having no luck at all."

"Where's Joey?" Ryou asked.

"He's with Marik and Ishizu," Yugi replied. "He's kind of upset that we didn't tell him earlier."

"Is Marik awake?" Odion asked, looking ready to head out the door that very moment.

Yugi shook his head. "Not yet. He looks comfortable, at least." Yugi noticed the state of the room. "Wow! You didn't have to clean up for me, but thanks!"

"We were trying to work out what happened," Ryou explained. "He broke most of the artifacts, and we're still looking for several of the heads."

Yugi looked at the statues on the desk and sighed. "So, the heads of Hathor, Sekmet, and Ra are still missing," he said, casting his gaze out over the room. "Maybe they rolled under something," he added, looking under the bed. Ryou and Odion helped him pull out various boxes of junk to get a better look, but none of them could see the heads anywhere.

Odion and Yugi continued searching the room, but Ryou took another look at the statues on the desk. Something seemed odd about the way they'd broken.

The three complete statues were broken in completely different ways, as though they'd been thrown haphazardly and shattered irregularly on impact. The three headless statues, however, were all broken in largely the same way, as though the intent had actually been to break the heads off. "Um." Ryou cleared his throat. "Do you think he might have taken the heads on purpose?"

Yugi spoke up first. "Why would he do that?"

"We don't know why he does anything," Ryou pointed out. "Maybe he had reason to hate those gods more than the others?"

"It's possible," Odion agreed. He then walked out the door without another word.

_I think I understand his thought processes even less than I understand Marik's,_ Ryou thought to himself as he and Yugi followed Odion back to the living room.

Odion nodded to Joey, then went over to Marik and pulled the blanket down. Ryou finally grasped what he intended when he started fishing around in Marik's pockets.

Ryou saw Joey looking at him and realized he'd forgotten to greet him. "Hi, Joey," he said brightly, hoping it made up for his momentary impoliteness. He tried not to be put down by the look Joey was giving him. Ryou understood why Joey was upset, but it didn't make things any easier. _Ishizu and Odion have far more reason to be angry, but they aren't reacting this way._

"Hi," Joey said. He looked frustrated, like he wanted to punch something, but the particular something he wanted to punch wasn't available at the moment.

Ryou hoped the look was meant for Marik's dark side and not Marik himself.

"They aren't here," Odion said, once he'd finished searching all of Marik's pockets.

"What's not here?" Joey asked.

"The statue heads," Yugi said. He filled both Ishizu and Joey in on the missing heads.

"What would anybody want with a bunch of heads?" Joey asked.

Marik chose that moment stir in his sleep. Ryou walked over to him, standing at his side next to Odion. Everyone looked at Marik expectantly. He mumbled something, then reached out with one fumbling hand. His hand encountered Odion's arm first. That apparently wasn't what Marik wanted, and so the hand quickly moved on, finding Ryou's arm next. Marik sighed contentedly, pulling Ryou down on top of him and hugging him like a teddy bear.

"Ah! Marik," Ryou said, very conscious of the four pairs of eyes staring at them at the moment. He turned red at the thought of various things Marik might do in his sleep that other people really shouldn't be seeing. He tried to escape from Marik's grip, but it was surprisingly strong. _I guess he really is stronger than I am. He must consciously hold back most of the time._

The thought wasn't very helpful.

"Um. I can't move," Ryou said quietly.

"Here," Joey said, pulling on Marik's arms in an attempt to free him.

Marik muttered something indignantly in his sleep, and pulled Ryou even closer. Joey stepped back, looking at his own hands as though wondering how they'd suddenly become so weak in relation to Marik's.

Ryou glanced at Odion plaintively and saw the man looking back at him like he thought he finally understood what Ryou had been so embarrassed about during their earlier conversation. Ryou wasn't about to contradict him if that was the case. Odion gently pulled Ryou free of Marik's grip and set him down just out of Marik's reach.

Marik grumbled, but settled back down.

"How long is he going to sleep, anyway?" Joey asked.

"The longer his dark side is present, the more it takes out of him," Ishizu replied. "He was in control for a fairly long time today."

"What are we going to do when he wakes up?" Yugi asked, looking at Marik in concern.

"He will come home with us," Odion replied, pulling the blanket back up over Marik's body.

"What?" Ryou asked, unable to keep the distress out of his voice. He didn't want to be alone again. The thought of staying in an empty apartment for the first time in months upset him even more than he would have thought.

Ishizu looked at him with a certain amount of sympathy. "He can't stay with you. Based on what you've said, his dark side comes out most often when the two of you are in your apartment together." At Ryou's distraught look, she put a hand on his arm and continued. "We aren't saying you won't ever see him again. We're only saying that he can't stay in the place where his dark side most consistently appears."

Ryou swallowed, then nodded. "That makes sense," he admitted, though he still hated the plan.

Ishizu rubbed his arm, then pulled her hand away.

"You could stay here for a while," Yugi offered, seeing the look on Ryou's face.

Ryou lowered his eyes. In the past he might have protested the offer, not wanting to impose on anyone, but he'd gotten too used to having someone around to object too much in this case. "Would it really be okay?" he asked. "Your grandfather..."

"I'm sure he'll agree," Yugi replied swiftly.

"All right," Ryou said. "If he agrees..."

* * *

Ishizu and Odion ended up taking Marik home while he was still asleep, which in its own way Ryou thought might be for the best. _He won't be able to object to the plan, this way. We can see him tomorrow, once he's woken up._

Yugi's grandfather agreed readily to having Ryou in the house for a while, saying that he was welcome to stay as long as he wanted.

Ryou decided not to go back to the apartment for his things until the next day, since it was already getting late. He took Marik's place on the couch for the night. As he fell asleep, he realized that they still hadn't found the statue heads, but the thought soon mutated into a bizarre dream about giant, headless statues roaming Domino City, and then left his mind entirely.


	12. Duplication

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 12) – Duplication**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou woke well before dawn the next morning. He sat up on the couch and looked around the dark room sleepily. He was initially confused about why he was in Yugi's living room instead of his own bedroom at home, but the memory of the previous day quickly rushed back to him, driving the remaining sleepiness out of him.

With his concern for Marik's wellbeing renewed, Ryou wondered how long he would have to wait to find out how he was doing. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was still only five o'clock in the morning. _I can't even call them for a while, then,_ he thought with a small sigh.

Ryou took a moment to think about what to do with the time he had. He was too awake to consider trying to go back to sleep, and the thought of lying around for another hour or so wasn't very appealing. He push the blanket away, then stood up. He grabbed the blanket and folded it as neatly as he could, then set it back down on the couch.

Ryou made his way to the bathroom in the dark, being careful not to knock into anything or make any noise. He didn't want to wake Yugi or his grandfather so early in the morning. He closed the door, then turned on the light. He squinted his eyes closed, the sudden transition from relative dark to bright light blinding him for a moment. _I really should have known that would happen,_ he thought as he rubbed his eyes.

He slipped out of his clothes and showered quickly, feeling oddly furtive about it. Ryou knew Yugi wouldn't object to him taking a shower before anyone else was awake, but not having explicit permission made him uncomfortable. It wasn't his house, after all.

He put his clothes back on and made his way back out to the living room. His shower hadn't taken all that long, so sunrise was still a ways off. He thought about breakfast, but he wasn't very hungry just yet, and preferred to wait for Yugi or his grandfather to wake up before eating their food.

Ryou made his way over to a window. He pushed the curtains aside and looked out into the street beyond. The full moon glowed in the distance, sitting low over the city. It had a distinctly yellow tinge that night, almost looking more like the sun than the moon, though it wasn't anywhere near bright enough to truly be a sun.

Ryou could see the corner store from where he stood, but the old man had long since closed it up for the night. There was no one in sight. _I guess I'm the only one up this early,_ Ryou thought. He continued to observe the quiet scene outside, glad to have a moment of calm in his life.

Eventually, Ryou saw the elderly shopkeeper come down into the shop and start moving around inside, presumably setting up for the day. The sun was just starting to rise, already bringing a bit more light to Domino City. Ryou watched the shopkeeper for awhile, then wandered over to the window on the opposite side of the room.

The street on that side wasn't much different, though the window did give a very nice view of the moon, which hung low and crescent-shaped over the city.

_Hey... wait a minute,_ Ryou thought, frowning in puzzlement. _That's not right._

He took another good look at the crescent moon, just to be clear on what he was seeing, then hurried back over to the other window. He looked outside and saw the full moon, still hovering over the city. It was starting to fade away in the light of the dawn. Ryou rubbed his eyes before looking again, but the full moon remained. He walked back over to the opposite window, and sure enough, the crescent moon was there, its appearance also somewhat dimmed by the approaching sun.

_Am I dreaming?_ Ryou wondered, finding it to be the only explanation that made any sense. It didn't feel like he was dreaming, however. He was thinking far more clearly than he ever had in a dream. The very fact that he'd noticed the two moons as being strange attested to that. Ryou rubbed his arm, then gave it a light pinch. _No, I definitely felt that,_ he thought.

Ryou looked back out the window, but the crescent moon had disappeared while he'd been thinking. He rushed back over to the other window. The full moon was still there, but just barely. It seemed to glow a little brighter for a moment, then flickered out, like a candle that had just been snuffed.

_Did... did I just see a UFO?_ Ryou wondered doubtfully. _That definitely wasn't normal moon behavior._ Paranoid thoughts about alien abductions and government cover-ups filled his mind. He'd never been as interested in UFOs as the occult, but he had done a good amount of reading about them when he was younger.

Ryou shook his head. _I probably just imagined it. A trick of the light, maybe._

The sound of footsteps broke Ryou out of his revery. He looked over at the stairs and saw Yugi's grandfather.

Solomon yawned. "Oh, hi, Bakura. How long have you been up?"

"Not that long," Ryou said. He decided he should probably keep his early morning activities – and the stress-induced hallucinations that had accompanied them – to himself. They already had Marik's mental problems to worry about; he didn't need to add his own to the mix. _I'll just try to get more sleep tonight. _"You're up early, too."

Solomon nodded. "Saturday's always a busy day at the shop. I have get ready," he said. He turned to the kitchen. "Come along, I'll make us some breakfast," he added, waving for Ryou to follow him.

* * *

Ryou helped Solomon make breakfast, wanting to feel a little less like he was just mooching off the Moto family. Yugi came down in his pajamas a little after they finished cooking, having smelled the food from his room. "'Morning," he yawned, sitting down next to Ryou at the table.

"Good morning," Ryou replied. The two ate in relative quiet; Yugi's grandfather had already finished eating and gone out to the game shop to set up for the day. Yugi had started eating later than Ryou, but Ryou ate more than he did, so they both finished at the same time.

Ryou immediately looked at the clock.

"Wondering if it's late enough to check on Marik?" Yugi asked, reading Ryou's mind.

"Er. Is it that obvious?" Ryou replied.

"Yeah." Yugi checked the clock himself. "I think it's still a little too early."

Ryou couldn't argue with that. "I hope he's all right."

"Me too," Yugi agreed. He paused for a moment. "I need to pack up the statues, if we're going to see him later."

Ryou thought about that for a moment, then frowned. "Wouldn't it be a bad idea to bring them where he can see them again?" he asked, thinking that if they'd managed to draw out Marik's dark side before, there was no reason they couldn't do it again, even if they were broken.

"That's why I'm packing them up," Yugi explained. "Ishizu is going to take them to be repaired. As repaired as they can be without the heads, anyway," he added. "Marik won't even see them."

"That makes sense," Ryou agreed. Thinking about it a little further gave him a new worry, however. "What about the artifacts they already have in the house?" he asked.

Confusion clouded Yugi's face for a moment, but it was quickly replaced with understanding. "You mean, could they affect Marik the same way these did?"

Ryou nodded.

Yugi frowned. "Ishizu didn't say anything about them, but I doubt she would leave them lying around after what happened here. She talked to me about keeping my Egyptian stuff out of sight when Marik comes over."

"She did?" Ryou repeated. It sounded like a sensible precaution, but this was the first he was hearing of it.

"Yeah. After they told us they were taking Marik home. You weren't really, um, paying attention," Yugi said.

Ryou's cheeks tinged pink. _I was moping,_ he admitted to himself. After hearing that he was losing his roommate for the indefinite future, he'd gotten a little depressed, despite Yugi's kind offer to stay with him for awhile. He'd spent most of his time sitting next to Marik, hoping he'd wake up before Ishizu and Odion took him home. He hadn't really been listening to what the others were saying at that point.

_I'll have to be better about that in the future,_ Ryou thought to himself. _The situation isn't pleasant, but it's the one we're in, so I'll just have to manage it somehow,_ he added, summoning up the will that had kept him going through far worse times in his life.

Ryou turned his attention back to Yugi. "Shouldn't we take pictures of the statues before you give them back?"

Yugi blinked. "Why?"

"To help us figure out what he was trying to do," Ryou replied. He'd thought a little more about not-Marik's goals, but he hadn't come up with anything new so far. "Why he ripped the heads off, why he tried to run away..."

Yugi nodded in understanding. "I see what you mean. We can take the pictures with my camera."

* * *

After they'd cleaned up the breakfast dishes, Ryou and Yugi headed back to Yugi's room to take the pictures. They cleared everything off of Yugi's desk, then set a plain white sheet on top of it as a neutral background. Yugi got out his camera and photographed every item, while Ryou wrapped up the pieces they were done with and packed them into a box.

"I'll get these printed later," Yugi told Ryou when they were finished.

"Thank you," Ryou replied. He thought about his journal back at the apartment and wondered if he should bring it over when he went to get his clothes. _And if I do bring it, should I show it to Yugi?_ Ryou asked himself, feeling highly ambivalent about the idea. It didn't seem worth it to tell him that much, but not tell him about the theory he'd come with as well, and he really didn't want to say anything about that particular aspect of the situation.

"You know," Yugi said, looking thoughtful. "Ishizu should have pictures of the statues before they were broken."

"She does?" Ryou asked, feeling a little dumb afterward. _Of course she does. She probably has pictures of everything in their collection. It might even have been required in order to bring such things into the country._

"Yeah," Yugi said. "You should ask her about it when we go over."

"I will," Ryou replied. _That's even better than having pictures of them now. If I can see what they looked like originally, maybe I can figure out what's so special about the heads he took._ Ryou frowned. "We still don't even know what he did with the heads," he thought aloud.

"We know that they aren't in this room," Yugi said, looking slightly pained. "And he didn't have them when you found them, which means he must have dropped them somewhere along the way."

"Or hid them," Ryou said. He didn't remember seeing any statue heads while he'd been walking along the road, but then, he hadn't exactly been looking for them.

"Or that," Yugi agreed. "We could go look for them later." He glanced at the clock. "I think it's probably late enough to-"

The phone rang, cutting off what he'd been about to say.

Yugi picked it up. "Hello?" he said. His face brightened after a second. "Marik! Are you okay?"

Ryou focused on Yugi, straining his ears in an attempt to hear whatever Marik was saying in response, but while he could hear the voice coming through the receiver, he couldn't make out the actual words. He wanted to talk to Marik himself, but he didn't want to interrupt Yugi's conversation.

"No, it's fine, really," Yugi said reassuringly. "Most of what was destroyed belonged to your family anyway."

Ryou tried not to look overly impatient, but some of his anxiety must have shown on his face, because Yugi took one look at him and immediately told Marik that Ryou would like to talk to him now. Ryou took the phone from him. "Marik?"

"Yeah, it's me," came the voice from the other end.

"Are you okay?" he asked, echoing what Yugi had said.

"I'm fine," Marik replied. "I'm sorry you had to go looking for me."

"You don't have to be sorry," Ryou said. He didn't like Marik's subdued tone; whatever his friend might have said, he didn't sound okay. "Can we come and see you?"

"One sec," Marik said. There was an odd ruffling sound, as though he'd covered the phone with his hand. A few moments passed, and he was back. "Yeah, you can come any time."

"We'll be right over," Ryou replied.

* * *

Ryou and Yugi took the bus most of the way to the Ishtar home. Marik's motorcycle was still parked outside the game shop, but Marik had the keys, and neither Ryou nor Yugi had great motorcycle-riding skills. Marik periodically tried to convince Ryou to learn to ride the thing on his own, but Ryou was content to forever remain a passenger when it came to motorcycles.

It took them some time to get to their destination. The buses in Domino weren't frequent, and they were lugging a heavy box with them, as well. They took turns carrying it, so that neither of them would get too tired.

Marik opened the door before they could even knock. He shivered at the blast of cold air as he directed them inside. Yugi slid off his shoes and hung up his coat. Ryou followed suit, handing the box over to Yugi so that he could get his coat off.

"I could take that if you want," Marik told Yugi, referring to the box.

"Um. Better not," Yugi said. He moved the conversation on quickly. "Is Ishizu around?"

Marik didn't seem inclined to linger on the issue either. "She's in her office," he said, pointing Yugi in the right direction.

"I'll take this to her," Yugi said, walking to where he'd been pointed. "I'll be back in a minute."

Marik plopped himself down on the couch. "Sit down," he told Ryou.

Ryou sat down next to him. "Are you really alright?" he asked, putting a hand on Marik's shoulder.

Marik looked a bit shifty for a brief instant, then smiled. "Yeah. I'm fine," he said, taking Ryou's hand from his shoulder and linking their fingers together. "I was surprised to wake up in my room here, but I was okay otherwise."

The warmth of Marik's hand on his was comforting; Ryou hoped it had as much of an effect on Marik as it had on him. "Will you be okay staying here?" he asked. He'd almost expected Marik to refuse to go along with it – Marik tended not to follow the rules imposed on him when it came to where he could go.

"It's only for a little while," Marik said, the optimism sounding only slightly forced. His expression grew concerned. "Are _you_ going to be okay on your own? I know you don't like to be alone."

Ryou blinked, then looked away for a moment, embarrassed. He hadn't realized he was so obvious about it, but both Marik's blunt comment and Yugi's immediate offer to stay with him the day before suggested otherwise. _At least they're both just trying to show they care about me,_ he thought, but it didn't do much to ease the vulnerability that came with having his friends know how he really felt.

He shook his head, then looked at Marik again, somewhat nervously this time. "I'll be staying with Yugi for now," he said. "Didn't Ishizu mention it?" Ryou could see Odion not saying more than he thought absolutely necessary, but he would have expected Ishizu to say something about it.

An unreadable emotion flickered in Marik's eyes when Ryou mentioned staying with Yugi, but it was gone almost instantly. "No, she didn't," Marik said, tone indicating that he was also surprised that she didn't tell him. He smiled again. "It's good, though. At least you aren't going to be stuck in the apartment by yourself." He squeezed Ryou's hand affectionately.

"Y-yeah," Ryou agreed.

They fell quiet for a long moment.

It was Ryou who finally broke the silence. "What do you remember about yesterday?" he asked softly. He felt a little uncomfortable asking, but he knew it had to be done. _He might not remember much, but anything might be the key to figuring out what his dark side is up to._

Marik looked away, letting go of Ryou's hand. "Not much. I remember taking the test clearly."

"But nothing after that?" Ryou asked, alarmed.

Marik shook his head. "Not _nothing_, but... it's kind of fuzzy. I know we went to the game shop, and to Yugi's room. You and Yugi left the room... for some reason." Marik's brow wrinkled in concentration. "And after that, well, I just don't know."

"Do you remember seeing anything in Yugi's room?" Ryou asked, hoping he would say something about the statues.

"Nothing specific," Marik said apologetically. "I didn't even know what artifacts _he_ broke until Ishizu told me."

"Did she tell you about the heads?" Ryou asked. At Marik's nod, he continued: "Do you know why-?"

"No idea why he did that," Marik said emphatically. "I mean, other than just wanting to be destructive. I don't know why he'd take the heads somewhere else, though."

"Perhaps he didn't just want to break them," Ryou suggested. "He might have wanted to make them impossible to repair."

Marik thought it over, then nodded uncertainly. "Maybe. I don't see why he'd only do it for those three, though. Why not all of them?"

"Was there anything significant about those three?" Ryou asked. He knew a little about Egyptian gods and goddesses, but he didn't see any reason for Marik's dark side to hate them any more than the others.

"Um. Well, Hathor and Sekmet go together," Marik said, obviously straining to find a possible reason. "They're both aspects of each other. They're related to Ra. Hathor has influence over love... and, uh, a lot of other things there's no reason to go into. Sekmet has influence over war. And Ra is... well, Ra," he finished. He paused. "That doesn't really tell us anything, though, does it?"

"Not really," Ryou agreed.

"I can see why he'd hate Ra more than the rest, but not why he'd care about the other two," Marik said thoughtfully.

"You can?" Ryou asked. "Why would he hate Ra?"

"The Winged Dragon of Ra," Marik said, in the distant voice he tended to use when talking about his past. "It was my card."

It seemed like a connection that might fit, but Ryou struggled to make it work. "That doesn't really seem like a reason for him to hate it."

Marik shrugged. "Sometimes he just hates anything having to do with me."

Ryou wondered unhappily for a moment about what that said about how Marik felt about himself, but he didn't say anything. _His dark side isn't really __**him**__,_ Ryou assured himself. "Do Hathor and Sekmet have anything to do with you?"

Marik shook his head. "No more than Osiris or Ma'at do."

Ryou tried to find another angle to take, but was stopped by Yugi joining them in the living room. He held out a folder in Ryou's direction. "Here. Ishizu printed off copies of the pictures you wanted."

"Ah, thanks," Ryou said, making a mental note to remember to thank Ishizu herself later. He didn't open the folder, not wanting to risk drawing out Marik's dark side again if he saw the pictures.

"What's that?" Marik asked curiously. He instinctively reached out to take it. He never had been very concerned with manners when it came to finding things out.

Ryou quickly moved the folder away, explaining what was inside. Marik's hand immediately dropped.

"So," Yugi said, obviously eager to change the subject. "What are you doing today?"

"Odion's going to take me to get some stuff from the apartment at some point," Marik replied. He didn't appear to be looking forward to the prospect.

"We have to get Bakura's stuff," Yugi said. "Maybe we could all go at the same time."

"I don't know," Marik said cautiously. He avoided Ryou's eyes. "I'm not sure we should be in the apartment at the same time."

Ryou understood the reasoning – it was the same reason they weren't sharing the apartment anymore, after all – but it still pained him to hear. "That's probably true."

"You should be able to if others are present," a voice said from the doorway. "He has yet to appear when you two are not alone."

Ryou turned to see Odion standing there, looking as calm as ever. He was a little surprised at what Marik's brother had actually said; the previous day he'd seemed very protective of Marik. _But protective doesn't necessarily mean over-protective,_ Ryou thought. _I guess he doesn't want Marik to be away from us any more than is necessary to keep his dark side from coming out._

"I will drive you," Odion continued.

Marik's mood became visibly brighter. "Let's go!"

* * *

_Having Odion drive us worked out fairly well_, Ryou reflected later. If he'd gone with Yugi by bus, it would have been a much bigger hassle carrying even the relatively small amount of stuff he'd packed.

After dropping everything off, the four had returned to the Ishtar home and eaten lunch. Ryou, Yugi, and Marik had then followed that up with a trip to see Joey, who, while still a little put out by the secret Marik had been keeping, was happy to see that Marik was okay. The rest of the day had flown by, and before Ryou knew it he and Yugi were returning to the game shop.

"You can set up your stuff here or in my room," Yugi told him. "I'll clear out a drawer for your clothes."

"You really don't have to do that," Ryou tried to insist. He was starting to feel like an imposition.

"It's no problem," Yugi said. Ryou opened his mouth to reply, but Yugi beat him to it. "It's better than having a bag of clothes lying around," he added, aiming straight for Ryou's desire to stay out of everyone's way.

Ryou closed his mouth, then opened it again. "Right," he said, feeling a little better about taking the small amount of space in Yugi's room. He put the few books he'd brought on Yugi's small bookshelf, feeling glad that the semester was over and he didn't have to bring every book he owned. He put his clothes in the drawer Yugi had set aside for him, then brought his bathroom things to the room they belonged in.

Ryou hadn't brought much other than that. He _had_, in the end, decided to pack the journal – he could already feel his memory of the previous day's events fading a little, and he wanted to write it all down so he wouldn't forget any small, but potentially critically important details. He also had the folder of pictures Ishizu had given him, though he hadn't looked at them yet.

Ryou was unsure of what to tell Yugi about the journal at first, though he knew there was no easy way to secretly write in it in their current situation. He decided to just sit down on the couch and start writing down what he needed to write, and to tell Yugi that it was his personal diary if he asked about it. He didn't even need to do that, in the end. Yugi seemed to simply assume it was a personal diary without even being told, and he didn't ask Ryou any questions about it.

Once he'd finished recording the events in his log, Ryou picked up the folder Ishizu had put together for him and flipped through the pictures. It was getting late, so he couldn't look at them too closely, but he could already tell they'd be helpful. _There's something similar about those three statues,_ he thought with a yawn.

_I'll figure out what it is tomorrow._


	13. A Feeling In The Bones

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 13) – A Feeling In The Bones  
**Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou slept to a more reasonable hour the next morning, and, like Yugi, was awakened by the smell of delicious food. He stretched himself out, then tidied up the area where he'd slept and headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

Yugi was seated at the kitchen table in his pajamas reading the newspaper as he ate. "'Mmrnning," he said, between mouthfuls of food.

"Good morning," Ryou replied cheerfully. He served himself what was left on the stove, making a mental note to thank Yugi's grandfather for cooking for him before he went out. He sat down at the table, pushing aside several sections of the Sunday Domino Gazette to make room for his plate. He glanced over at Yugi's section of the paper as he took his first bite and saw that, unsurprisingly, Yugi was reading the gaming section of the paper.

_Only this city would have an entire section of the major newspaper dedicated to games like Duel Monsters,_ Ryou thought with an amused smile. He cut another bite of his eggs, then stabbed them lightly with his fork. His eyes skimmed over the other sections of the paper lying around on the table, hunting for the front page. He blinked when he caught sight of the main headline:

**UFO Spotted Over Domino City!**

Ryou frowned, setting his fork down on his plate and picking up the paper to get a closer look. There were newspapers he would have expected to print such a story, but the Domino Gazette wasn't one of them. He glanced at the accompanying picture and recognized it as the odd second moon he'd seen the previous morning. _It's in black and white, and it's a little blurry, but I'm sure that's it,_ Ryou thought. _I guess I wasn't going crazy after all._

He moved on to the article itself:

_Dozens of Domino City residents report having a strange light in the sky early Saturday morning. More residents report having seen it early this morning in the same location, just a few blocks away from Domino High. _

_According to witness accounts, the light first appeared shortly after midnight and lingered until just before dawn. It has yet to be identified, but those who saw it have compared it to a full moon, the sun, a yellow traffic light, and a spotlight. _

"_I'm sure that's all it was," says Police Chief Bradley, having stated that the Domino City police have no intention of investigating the event at this time. "High school kids messing around with some kind of high-powered lighting, or holograms, maybe."_

_Others are not so sure. "I could feel that thing giving off heat from above," says one resident who lives not far from where the UFO was spotted. "There's no way it was a hologram."_

_Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation, denied accusations that the light and heat were the result of defective Duel Disk technology. "How many times do I have to tell you people? KaibaCorp is not responsible for your hallucinations."_

_Many area residents intend to wake early tomorrow morning to see if the light appears again. One such resident..._

Ryou skimmed the rest of the article, then turned to Yugi. "Did you see this?"

Yugi looked up from what he was reading. "Hmm?" he replied. He glanced at the article, then laughed. "Oh, yeah. That one. I saw it earlier."

"What do you think?" Ryou asked, debating whether or not to bring up that he'd seen the light the day before. _It's not like it has anything to do with us,_ he thought.

Yugi shrugged. "Whatever Kaiba says, Duel Disks have done things like this before," he replied. "There's no reason to think they couldn't do it this time."

"True," Ryou agreed, thinking that most strange events in Domino inevitably traced their roots back to Duel Monsters or KaibaCorp. He set the paper back down and went back to his breakfast.

* * *

After they finished eating and cleaning up the dishes, Yugi went to take his morning shower. Ryou went to Yugi's bedroom to wait for his turn. He picked out his clothes for the day, then sat down at Yugi's desk with the folder of pictures Ishizu had given him the day before. _Might as well do something useful with my time._

He took the profile pictures out and laid them on the desk three by two, the photos of the statues whose heads had later been taken in the top row and the other three below them. He looked at the heads carefully, trying to find a pattern.

The first thing he noticed was that half the heads were human heads, while the other half were animal heads, but unfortunately there was no correlation between this trait and which heads Marik's dark side had taken. Both Ma'at and Osiris had human heads, but so did Hathor, and Marik's dark side had taken her head. Thoth had the head of some kind of bird with a long, thin beak and small eyes, but the depiction of Ra was also a bird, one with a tiny beak and large dark eyes.

_A falcon,_ Ryou recalled. His knowledge of Egyptian gods and goddesses wasn't as thorough as Yugi or Marik's, but his father was an archaeologist, and Ra was important enough for him to have picked up the basic facts about him.

The final statue – the one of Sekmet – had the head of a lion. _Makes sense for a battle goddess, _Ryou thought. He looked the faces over again just to be sure, but he didn't think they had much to do with not-Marik's choices.

Ryou gave a quick thought to the gender balance of the two groups, but that didn't seem to have anything to do with it either. The beheaded group had two goddesses and one god, while the intact-head group had two gods and one goddess. The two groups were as equal as they could be, having come from an initial group of three gods and three goddesses.

Not finding anything in the faces, Ryou started looking at what the figures had on top of their heads. Ma'at was the simplest – she had a single feather sticking out of a small headband, nothing more. Osiris

had a large white hat with two feathers, one in front, one in back. Thoth's headdress was similar to that of Osiris, but the hat had a few additional details on it.

Sekmet and Ra had the exact same headdress, a giant disk with a snake wrapped around it. _They're the same – I wonder if that's the pattern. _Ryou looked at Hathor's headdress, and was disappointed to see that it was different from the other two. _The other two don't have horns,_ he thought. The idea seemed too promising to give up on, though. He looked at the headdress a little more closely, covering the horns with two fingers. _Now they're exactly the same,_ Ryou thought.

Ryou took his hands away from the picture, surveying all the photos together. _Could that really be it?_ Ryou wondered. _Marik's dark side just prefers feather headdresses to snake ones. Or would it be the other way around? I guess we still don't really know whether he broke the heads off because hated them or because he liked them and wanted to keep them. I wish we knew what he actually **did** with them._

"Shower's free," Yugi said from the doorway, startling Ryou out of his revery. Ryou just barely managed not to fall out of his seat.

"Right. Thanks," Ryou said, remembering that he was still in his pajamas. He stood up, putting the pictures back in the folder so that Yugi's desk was clear. He gathered up the clothes he'd picked out for the day and went to shower.

* * *

Once Ryou finished getting dressed, he and Yugi took the bus over to the university to buy their books for next semester. They'd agreed to meet Marik there the day before.

Ryou wasn't as eager to have his books as the other two were – he thought he'd like the classes he'd chosen, but he didn't feel as much of a desire to read ahead in his textbooks as Marik and Yugi seemed to. He did see the wisdom in buying them as early as possible, however, since the cheaper used copies always sold out within days of being stocked. He also never passed up an opportunity to do something with his friends.

When Ryou and Yugi arrived at the bookstore, Marik was already there, standing out front with Odion. They greeted each other. Odion gave Ryou and Yugi each a small nod, then turned to Marik.

"I'll call when I need you," Marik said, looking... well, not exactly eager to be rid of his brother, but perhaps a little relieved to have his own space for a while. Ryou wondered how he could feel so constrained after only a day and half back at home.

Odion nodded calmly, then walked away.

"When you need him?" Yugi asked, sounding puzzled. Ryou had to admit, it was a slightly odd way for Marik to have phrased the sentence.

"Yeah..." Marik replied, clearly trying to sound like it was no big deal. "He'll come and pick me up later. I shouldn't be on my own anymore."

"Why not?" Ryou asked quietly, feeling there was more to it than what had happened on Friday.

"I was alone in my room yesterday night," Marik said, "and... _he_ came out and wrecked my bed." Marik sounded a little distant, as though it was only an unfortunate story he'd heard third or forth hand. Ryou supposed it was like that, in a way, since Marik could only rely on what others had told him about what his dark side did.

It took Ryou a moment to fully process what he'd heard. This was the first time Marik's dark side had appeared when Ryou wasn't somewhere in the vicinity. He'd come out while Marik was alone in a room, but Ryou had always been in the same building. The knowledge prompted a small amount of fear at the new development, but also a certain amount of relief. _At least I know it's not just me,_ he thought. "Just your bed, or...?"

"Just the bed," Marik confirmed. "Odion heard the noise and rushed in right after he ripped the springs out of the mattress. I don't know if he would have destroyed more or not, since he disappeared as soon as he saw Odion."

"Where did you end up sleeping, then?" Yugi asked.

"In Odion's bed," Marik replied. "He slept on the floor in a sleeping bag."

The answer surprised Ryou a little. _I would have thought the couch to be a more likely choice._ "His suggestion?" Ryou asked, on a hunch.

Marik nodded. "Odion thinks it will make _him_ less likely to come out if someone stays with me all the time. Uh, someone other than just you," he said, looking at Ryou somewhat apologetically.

"He's probably right," Ryou agreed. He gave Marik a small smile to show there were no hard feelings.

"Yeah," Marik said. He turned toward the entrance to the book store, grabbing Ryou's hand in his. "Let's go get our books!" he said, a new enthusiasm in his voice. Ryou couldn't tell if it was forced, or if Marik was just that happy to get his mind off of his other problems.

"Good idea," Yugi said.

The three walked inside.

* * *

Finding the books required for their classes didn't take much time, though both Yugi and Marik were quickly distracted by other books that caught their interest. In Yugi's case it was a book about ancient Egyptian board games; in Marik's it was a book about snowmobiles, of all things. Ryou had found himself drawn to a few books about UFOs, but none of them really had anything useful to say.

They'd returned to the game shop for lunch. Ryou put his books on Yugi's bookshelf, while Yugi hid his away where Marik wouldn't have to see them. Marik kept his in the bag the store bag, which he set down next to the couch.

Joey had joined them shortly after they'd eaten, wanting to practice Duel Monsters with Yugi. His anger at being kept out of the loop seemed to have mostly faded. Yugi and Joey sat down in chairs opposite each other, using the coffee table as the playing field. Ryou and Marik sat down on the couch to watch the game.

Or at least, Ryou sat down intending to watch the game. Marik fished one of his books out of the bag and brought up a promise that Ryou had totally forgotten about.

"You're going to help me study anatomy, right?"

Ryou blinked in surprise. He fought the blush overcoming him, realizing that the others would probably only make something out of that statement if he did. Unfortunately, his face didn't seem to agree with him, and it continued to turn redder, while his mouth mumbled its non-response: "Er. I-I... um..."

Joey snickered. "You know, if you're studying anatomy, you should really find a girl to help you. You're wasting the perfect opportunity, here."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "I think he actually wants to learn about human anatomy, Joey."

_I wouldn't be so sure about that,_ Ryou thought skeptically, though Marik's choice of location for their 'anatomy studies' was throwing him off a bit. _If the point were really just to... er... well... feel me up, would he really decide to do it in front of Yugi and Joey? Or is he trying to make it seem more innocent? Or-_

"I do want to learn about the human body," Marik said. He snickered. "And I don't think most girls would appreciate a random guy coming up to them and asking to study their anatomy."

Ryou felt a pang of irrational jealousy at the thought of Marik studying someone else's anatomy, but he consoled himself with the knowledge that Marik had only actually shown interest in his anatomy thus far. "You can study my anatomy as much as you like," Ryou blurted out. His face burned even hotter. He flailed mentally, struggling to find something he could say to save himself. "Er... I mean... uh... what exactly do you want to study?" he asked, hoping it would drive the conversation in a better direction.

Marik spread the book open on the cushion next to him. "Let's see," he said, skimming the table of contents. "It would make the most sense to start with the early chapters, since we'll probably do those first in class." He flipped past the first few introductory chapters and started with the next one, entitled: 'The Skeletal System'. "Looks interesting," Marik said, pointing to a diagram of the skull.

Joey just shook his head. "Wasted opportunity," he repeated mournfully, then shuffled his deck. He and Yugi drew their cards and began the game.

Ryou followed the game for about the first turn or so before getting distracted by Marik, who had decided to start with the bones laid out in the diagram. "So, this is the mandible..." Marik began, running his fingers over Ryou's jawbone.

It felt good, in a way that made Ryou almost giddy. Marik continued tracing the bones of Ryou's face, naming them as he went. Occasionally their eyes would meet, and Ryou's face would grow hot again, and his heart would beat a little faster.

However dubious the educational value of what they were doing may have been, Marik certainly took his time getting through all the bones of the skull. Yugi had won several games by the time Marik moved on to the next diagram. "The spine," he said, reading from the book. He lightly brushed his fingers against the back of Ryou's neck. "The cervical vertebrae..." he said.

Ryou wondered whether Marik's fingers were going to continue their path over his shirt, since there were other people around, but the question was short-lived. Ryou repressed a pleased sigh when Marik put his hand under the back of his shirt. Ryou was still well aware that Yugi and Joey were in the room, however absorbed in their duel they happened to be.

Ryou bit his lip as Marik's hand moved lower. The giddiness he'd been feeling mixed with a different sort of excitement, one he wasn't entirely keen on feeling with other people around. When Marik's hand started moving down into the back of his jeans, it got to be a little too much for him, and he pulled away. He grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it in his lap in a way that he hoped looked natural. "That's, uh, probably enough anatomy for today," he said, breathing slightly erratic.

Marik nodded. "It's probably not a good idea to learn too many names at once," he said, closing the book.

_Did you really learn any of the names? _Ryou wondered to himself, but didn't ask out loud. "Can I see the book?" he asked instead.

"Sure," Marik said, handing Ryou the book. "Thinking of adding the class?"

"No," Ryou replied. _I'd never learn anything the way we'd be studying._ He set the book down on top of the pillow in his lap. "I just want to see what you'll be learning," he added.

"I guess that makes sense," Marik said. He settled in to watch the duel, leaning against Ryou and putting an arm over his shoulders.

Ryou closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth, then opened the book to the table of contents. He skimmed through the chapter titles, seeing that there were sixteen in total. Some, Ryou was certain Marik would want to study, like the muscular system, or the cardiovascular system. Others, he wasn't even sure _how_ they could study, like... the digestive system.

But no chapter captured his interest quite as much as the last one: 'The Reproductive System'. _He wouldn't really go that far with the excuse, would he? Probably not in front of other people, _Ryou told himself, though he couldn't honestly say he was certain about that. His mind summoned up a bizarre image of him and Marik 'studying the reproductive system' on the couch while Yugi and Joey obliviously continued to play Duel Monsters.

Ryou shook the image from his head. _No, that's just unlikely,_ he thought. _And anyway, that chapter's all the way at the end. We probably won't even get there._ Ryou tried to ignore the part of him that found this ordering deeply unfortunate.

Yugi won the game, as anyone could have predicted, but Joey wasn't too upset about. "I'll definitely beat you next time," he insisted as they put their decks away.

"We'll see," Yugi replied with a smile. He turned to Ryou and Marik. "Grandpa just got a new game into the shop. You guys want to try it?"

"Sure," Marik said.

"Sounds fun," Ryou agreed, always up for a game other than Duel Monsters.

* * *

It was a long game, so they ordered a pizza to eat as they played. Unsurprisingly, Yugi was the first to win the game, leaving Ryou, Marik, and Joey competing with each other. Marik quickly fell behind the others, as he always seemed to whenever they played any game. Ryou wondered briefly if Marik was losing on purpose, as he apparently did in wrestling, but Ryou got too caught up in competing against Joey to care too much.

Joey beat him, in the end, but just barely. "That's a good sign," he said. "I'll probably win the Duel Monsters tournament next weekend, too."

"Technically, I beat you," Yugi pointed out.

Joey shrugged. "_You_ always beat everyone, so it doesn't count."

Joey headed home shortly after they finished. Marik stayed around a little longer, having to wait for Odion to come and get him after he called. "We should study some more tomorrow," he said as he left.

"Y-yeah," Ryou agreed, instinctively avoiding Odion's mildly curious face as he said it. He didn't know what the stoic man would think of someone 'studying anatomy' with his younger brother, and he didn't really want to find out just then.

Once the others had gone, Ryou changed into his pajamas and settled back down on the couch with the folder of pictures. He laid the photos out on the coffee table just as he had on Yugi's desk earlier. He looked at the cobra headdresses again, trying to figure out what might have made them stick out to Marik's dark side.

Yugi joined him on the couch this time. "Find anything?" he asked, glancing over the photos himself.

Ryou nodded. "These three," he said, pointing to the three notable statues, "have the same headdress."

Yugi's eyes filled with recognition. "You're right – they're all wearing a solar disk."

Ryou blinked. "A solar disk?" he repeated, looking at Ra's headdress again. He didn't see anything very 'solar' about it, other than the circular shape.

"Yeah," Yugi said, pointing at the headdress in question. "A cobra encircling a disk is a solar disk." Seeing the puzzled looked on Ryou's face, he added: "Egyptian symbolism can be a little strange, sometimes."

_I'm not going to argue with that,_ Ryou thought. "So, they're all wearing a solar disk. Does that mean they all have something to do with the sun?" he asked. He knew for certain that Ra was a sun god, but he didn't know nearly as much about about Hathor or Sekmet.

Yugi nodded. "Yup." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you think that's the reason _he_ took those heads?"

"Maybe," Ryou replied. "I suppose I could see him hating the sun," he added, though in reality he wasn't too sure about it. _Maybe he does hate the sun, but it doesn't seem to fit somehow._ There seemed to be something off about the idea that he couldn't quite put his finger on. "I still wonder what he did with the heads."

"He probably just dumped them in the garbage somewhere," Yugi said, sounding pained.

"Probably," Ryou agreed. He paused, something suddenly occurring to him. "Um. Doesn't that mean we should go looking for them as soon as possible?" he asked.

Yugi looked confused. "Why?"

"Well, when do they normally collect the garbage?" Ryou asked.

Yugi's face filled with comprehension. "Oh. Uh, they collect the garbage on Thursday." He hesitated. "Do you really think it's worth searching in every garbage can between here and where you found him?" Yugi asked, sounding doubtful.

Ryou couldn't say it exactly sounded pleasant to him, either. "We could at least take a short look," he said, feeling unable to give up the idea entirely. _If he doesn't want to do it, I can always do it on my own._ Freed from classes for the rest of the winter break, he didn't have much else to do.

"Maybe," Yugi said, still not sounding especially enthused at the idea. He yawned, turning toward his bedroom. "I'm going to bed."

"Er. Before you go..." Ryou said uncertainly, not really wanting to bother his friend right before bed.

"Hmm?" Yugi asked.

"Do you have any books with information about Hathor and Sekmet?" Ryou asked. "Um. Ones that weren't destroyed, I mean."

"Oh," Yugi replied. "Sure, I'll get you one." Yugi walked off to his room and soon returned with a book. "It's very basic," he told Ryou as he handed him the book.

"Thanks. I'm sure it's just what I need," Ryou said, putting the statue photos back in their folder. "Good night."

"'Night," Yugi yawned, trooping back to his room.

Ryou laid out his blanket on the couch, then slid under it. He read as much as he could about Hathor and Sekmet before putting out the light.

Yugi had been right; the book was very basic. All the same, though, Ryou felt he'd learned enough about the two goddesses to assess the situation, and his instincts were telling him that Marik's dark side didn't care about the two goddesses at all. 

_It might not make a lot of sense, _he thought as he fell asleep,_ but I really think he was after the headdresses themselves..._


	14. The Town Of The Midnight Sun

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 14) – The Town Of The Midnight Sun**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou slept a little later on Monday than he had during the weekend. He'd gotten used to sleeping on Yugi's couch – at this point, even the odd little lumps had become familiar. His internal mental scheduler also seemed to have finally accepted that he was on a month-long break from classes.

After his breakfast with Yugi, which seemed to be becoming a routine, he showered and got dressed, then told Yugi he was going out for the day. Yugi had barely noticed, already rushing out the door himself: "Uh, have fun. I have to get to the museum to talk Ishizu about an internship. I'll see you later!"

Ryou then started on the course of action he'd already mentally committed himself to: finding the statue heads. He thought that the most logical thing to do was to simply follow the path that Marik's dark side had taken from beginning to end, searching any likely hiding or dumping places along the way.

Ryou decided to begin just outside the window not-Marik had jumped down from, not seeing any significant advantages that could be gained by attempting that part himself. _He couldn't have hidden the heads while flying through the air, anyway._

Ryou rifled through the bushes beneath Yugi's window, looking between the branches to see if anything had landed there. He didn't find anything, but he hadn't expected to – he'd really only done it for the sake of thoroughness. _I'd feel silly if I searched everywhere else and they turned out to be right here all along._

Having verified that the heads weren't anywhere in the area, Ryou headed down the path Marik's dark side had taken several days earlier. He went down the road slowly, looking any place that could conceivably hold three heads of that size – in mailboxes, behind cardboard boxes in alleys, in trash cans, and so on. He picked up a useful-sized branch from someone's lawn fairly early on, not relishing the thought of going through garbage with his bare hands. _I probably should have brought gloves,_ he thought, but he wasn't entirely sure he'd want to get that close to it even if he _were_ wearing something on his hands.

Only a few blocks into his search, Ryou ran into a surprisingly large group of people for that time of day in that part of town. Some were dressed in strange costumes, which made Ryou wonder for a moment if he'd missed news of some Duel Monsters-related event, but he discounted it on the grounds that Joey would have mentioned it. _And I'd probably recognize what cards they were dressed as, _Ryou thought to himself.

Ryou took a closer look at the... hats...? that a portion of the crowd wore on their heads. _Is that... some kind of yellow beret?_ Ryou wondered. His eyes skimmed over the sea of people, landing on the area with the densest concentration of hat-wearers. The mass of people prevented Ryou from seeing who was distributing them, but he did catch the sign promising 'Domino City Saucer Hats' for only $5 apiece. He wasn't surprised to see the subheading advertising space-themed Duel Monsters decks also for sale; somebody knew their audience. _Perhaps I should suggest that to Yugi's grandfather. He might be able to boost sales while this UFO craze is still going._

Ryou looked to the side of the mob, where a couple of people stood with signs proclaiming that Domino was facing another Duel Monsters-created menace, not a UFO invasion. They were shouting quite loudly about the need to ban the Duel Disk, but the noise they were making was well matched by the heckling they received from other Domino residents.

About half of the people in the crowd were carrying cameras with them, and some were even taking pictures of various things in the area. The picture-takers didn't seem to care what specifically they were photographing; they went for pictures of the crowd, the buildings, the seasonal decorations, and other features of the street with equal interest.

_What's going on?_ Ryou wondered. _Is there some kind of event happening, or have these people just gathered here independently because of the UFO sightings?_ His curiosity only increased when he saw a black limo arrive on the scene. The people milling around the street made it difficult for the car to get to its destination; the driver had to honk several times to get them to move out of the way. Cameras clicked away as the limo pulled up to the curb. People crowded around the door, though whether it was because they were eagerly awaiting the passenger in the back or simply because they assumed anyone in a limo must be important, Ryou couldn't tell.

The door of the limo flew open, violently knocking over a couple of people who had been standing a little too close. Kaiba emerged from the limo, forcing the rest of the crowd back a few steps just with his presence.

_I wouldn't want to get in the way of anyone with **that** look on their face, either, _Ryou thought, seeing Kaiba glower at the slightly injured people who'd had the misfortune of getting in the way of the car door.

"If that door is damaged, you're paying for it," Kaiba said irritably. He then made his way over to the stairs of a nearby building, KaibaCorp security personnel not far behind him. He stood on the top step, making himself easily seen by everyone in the crowd. "Listen up," he began, but was almost completely overpowered by the murmur of the crowd. Looking even more annoyed than before, if that were possible, Kaiba grabbed a megaphone from the guard next to him, and shouted: "**Everyone! Quiet! **_**Now!**_"

Ryou winced and covered his ears to protect them from the horrible feedback from the megaphone. The rest of the crowd was similarly affected, falling silent after a few cries of pain.

Kaiba, looking very satisfied with the result he'd produced, continued without the megaphone. "Now. There have been recent insinuations that KaibaCorp and Duel Disk technology are responsible for the 'light in the sky'-" Kaiba used finger-quotes. "-that's appeared over Domino these past few days. But KaibaCorp and Duel Disk technology have absolutely nothing do with it."

A man in one of the saucer-hats interrupted him before he could continue. "No! It's beings from another solar system, coming to visit us!"

Kaiba grimaced, his eye twitching, but he didn't say anything. Clearly his instincts to deny what he saw as complete nonsense were warring with his desire to see people latch onto a reason, _any_ reason, that didn't involve KaibaCorp. The latter instinct won out. "KaibaCorp has no opinion on the cause of the phenomenon, other than that it has nothing to do with our technology," he said from between gritted teeth. "And today, we will prove it," he added, somewhat more normally. "I brought a team of KaibaCorp engineers with me." Kaiba pointed to a line of men holding scientific-looking equipment.

Ryou blinked, not having noticed them before that instant. _I suppose they must have arrived while he was talking._

"They have tools to detect the presence of KaibaCorp technology. They will locate every Duel Disk within a five-mile radius-" Kaiba swept an arm out wide. "-and verify that they are all functioning properly."

"Is he really going to all that trouble?" Ryou wondered.

"Yeah. After what happened two years ago, he's not taking any chances," said a voice at Ryou's back.

Ryou turned to find Mokuba Kaiba standing behind him. They didn't know each other very well, but they did know each other, and Mokuba had been fairly friendly every time they'd interacted. "You mean, the... um... _real_ Duel Monsters?" Ryou asked.

Mokuba nodded. "It was a PR disaster. Seto intends to head this one off before it gets that far this time." He looked Ryou over curiously. He caught sight of the stick Ryou was holding, and gave him a puzzled expression. "What's that for?"

"Um." Ryou dropped the stick on the ground, feeling a little silly to have been seen with it. "Nothing."

Mokuba shook his head. "What are you doing here, anyway? Are you hoping to see the UFO?"

"No." Ryou didn't feel the need to explain that he'd already seen it. "I was just looking for something, and I happened to run into the crowd." Ryou frowned, his own words registering in his mind. _Wait, these people all gathered here because this is where the UFO is brightest, right? And it just so happens to be right along the path Marik's dark side took when-_

Mokuba's reply interrupted his thoughts. "Looking for what?" he asked.

Ryou hesitated. He couldn't very well tell Mokuba about Marik's problems – Marik knew Mokuba, but not on any more of a personal level than Ryou knew him. On the other hand, he had already said he was looking for something. _Maybe I can just tell him what I'm searching for, without getting into all the other stuff._ "Well, they're broken statue parts..." Ryou gave a brief description of the statue heads, talking about the area they'd gone missing in, but not explaining quite how they'd been lost in the first place.

"Wow, that's tough," Mokuba said when he was finished. "You're really going to search that whole area?" he asked, like he thought Ryou was a little crazy for attempting it.

_Maybe I am,_ Ryou admitted to himself. "That's my intention," he said aloud.

Mokuba looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, our people will already be going over that whole area. I could tell them to be on the lookout for your statue heads."

Ryou's instinct was to turn him down. "I don't want to be any trouble," he said, holding his hands up in front of him in refusal.

Mokuba just patted his arm. "It's no biggie. Like I said, they're already going to be looking for broken Duel Disks in the area you're talking about. It's just a matter of telling them to pick up the heads if they find them."

Ryou didn't have much of an argument against that. "If it's really not a problem—"

"It isn't," Mokuba said easily. He patted Ryou's arm again, then took a step toward the line of KaibaCorp workers. He then stopped and backed up again, seeming to have remembered something. "Um. Probably not a good idea to mention this to Seto, 'kay? I'll call you if we find anything. What's your phone number?"

"I'm staying at Yugi's house, so I should give you that number," Ryou said.

"Oh, at the game shop?" Mokuba asked. At Ryou's nod, he continued: "I already have that number. I'll see you later!" And with that, he walked over to command his crew of workers.

Ryou shook his head in amusement. _It's not as strange as when he was in middle school, but it's still odd to see a teenager ordering employees around._ Somehow the same had never been true for the elder Kaiba; he'd always looked more unnatural in a school uniform.

Ryou wandered away from the crowd of UFO enthusiasts, wondering what to do with the rest of his day. He'd anticipated his search taking far longer than it had. He wasn't disappointed, though. Frankly, he was relieved to have someone else do the difficult task for him, as long as it wasn't an imposition. _They're likely to be more thorough about it than I could ever have been, anyway._

Ryou's stomach growled. It was approaching lunchtime. He looked around, not really wanting to wait the whole walk back to the game shop before eating. He spotted someone selling 'UFO cakes', and walked over to investigate. The cakes turned out to be very flat muffins. Ryou bought a couple and munched on them during his walk back to the game shop.

* * *

Yugi was still out when Ryou got back. Ryou made some sandwiches for lunch, then brought them out to share with Yugi's grandfather. They talked about various ways of profiting from the current UFO fad while eating. "The Duel Monsters decks are a good idea, but I think I could go even further than that," Solomon said, mental gears turning.

"UFO-specific games?" Ryou suggested.

Solomon nodded. "I have several lying around here somewhere. Probably some model kits, too."

Ryou spent the next hour or so helping Solomon rearrange the games in the shop so that the UFO or space-related games featured more prominently, which was somewhat complicated by the need to maintain the normal December Christmas theme at the same time. They put up a sign in the window emphasizing that such games were available for purchase. The sign also proclaimed that such games made great Christmas gifts, which made Ryou remember that he still had to buy presents for his friends. _I still have a couple of weeks, _he thought, making a mental note to figure out what he was even getting for them.

Yugi was slightly baffled when he returned to the shop. "What...?" He looked around the now-rearranged shop. "Oh, not here, too," he groaned.

"Did you pass the UFO convention?" Ryou asked, though, as far as he knew, Yugi wouldn't have needed to in order to get to the museum.

"Huh? No," Yugi said. "More like a convention came to us. People in the museum kept asking weird questions about UFOs visiting the ancients and aliens building the pyramids."

"Were they wearing yellow hats?" Ryou asked on a hunch.

"Yeah, a lot of them were," Yugi replied. "How'd you know?"

Ryou explained the mass of people at the UFO site.

"That explains a lot," Yugi said. He fluffed his spiky hair. "I hope this doesn't become a regular thing."

"Don't say that," Solomon interrupted cheerfully. "These are potential customers! You should start referring them here."

Yugi laughed. "At least someone's getting something useful out of this," he said. He glanced at the clock, then at Ryou. "Marik should be coming over soon, right?"

"That's what he said yesterday," Ryou replied. "He wants to... uh... to study some more." Ryou purposefully remained vague about what they'd be 'studying'. He was having enough trouble keeping himself from blushing as it was.

Yugi didn't seem to notice. "He's really gotten into biology," Yugi said, sounding almost impressed. "I'd never have thought he'd be so interested in something like this."

Ryou coughed. "Um. W-well. He said he never learned anything about it back home, so..." Ryou trailed off, unable to properly finish the excuse.

Yugi seemed to accept it as it was, though. "Makes sense that he'd want to learn all he could about it now, I guess."

"Y-yeah," Ryou said weakly. He was saved from further conversation about the topic by the arrival of Marik himself.

Marik all but burst through the door, Odion trailing behind him. Marik gave Yugi a small, but enthusiastic hug, then turned the full force of his energy on Ryou, giving him a hug that was half-embrace, half-tackle. "Ack!" Ryou cried out softly in surprise as he fell to the floor, Marik on top of him. Fortunately, that part of the game shop had a rug, preventing any injury.

Ryou wondered for a moment if Marik's wrestling impulse had returned, but apparently it was not to be. Marik squeezed him one more time, then let go, sitting up on Ryou's stomach. "Sorry. I'm just glad to be here." He glanced back at Odion. "I'll call you later," he said, obviously eager for his brother to leave.

Odion didn't budge just yet. "Are you certain you're feeling better?" he asked carefully.

Ryou touched Marik's neck. "Were you sick?"

Marik looked down at him, and Ryou saw that his friend did look a little like he'd been ill. His tan skin was a little duller than normal, and he had small rings around his eyes indicating that he hadn't slept so well the night before. "Just a headache," he hedged.

"Yesterday or this morning?" Ryou asked, seeing that it was probably more serious than Marik wanted to let on.

Marik paused long enough for Odion to answer for him. "Both. He went to sleep with a headache, and it persisted until just before we left."

"When it disappeared entirely," Marik said, clearly not inclined to think anymore about it. "I'll be fine," he told Odion.

Odion appeared to think about it for a moment, then nodded. "Call me if you need me," he said, then left.

Ryou rubbed the side of Marik's face. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

Marik smiled. "I'm feeling _much_ better now that I'm here," he declared. He slung his bag off of his shoulder. "Do you want to study now, or...?"

Ryou turned red. Their 'anatomy studies' were embarrassing enough without having Marik literally on top of him at the time. He sat up, gently pushing Marik to the side. "Um, perhaps we should go inside first...?"

Marik stood up. "Of course. We'd have to do it in there, anyway," he said. He glanced at Yugi. "Unless there's something else you want to do?"

Yugi shook his head. "It's okay, you guys can study," he said. "I have a book to read. We could do something else after dinner."

Marik nodded. "Sounds good," he said, helping Ryou to his feet. "Let's go."

* * *

They made themselves comfortable in the living room. Yugi sat in a chair with his book, while Ryou and Marik took the couch. Marik opened his own book to the next diagram, of the bones in the hand. He took Ryou's right hand and started gently stroking the skin. "Distal phalanx of the thumb..." he began.

Ryou quickly lost track of what Marik was actually saying, being far more interested in the physical contact itself. He blushed slightly and stared at Marik's face, feeling giddy again. It didn't take Marik long to get through all the bones in Ryou's hand, but he continued to caress Ryou's skin even after he'd finished. Ryou didn't even notice that he had finished, at first, being too caught up in the pleasant sensation of their hands touching. It took him several seconds to realize that Marik was no longer naming the bones, and had, in fact, asked him some kind of question.

"Er. Sorry," Ryou said, feeling bad about his lapse in attention. "What was that again?"

"I was asking how you feel about sleeping here," Marik said with a small frown. Ryou thought it was probably directed at the situation more than at him.

"It's..." Ryou hesitated. He didn't want to say that he disliked it, because that could hurt both Yugi and Marik's feelings – Yugi's because he'd been kind enough to invite Ryou to stay; Marik's because he was the reason Ryou wasn't staying at their apartment. On the other hand, Ryou didn't want to give Marik the impression that he wasn't missed. "It's nice," he finally settled on, figuring that 'nice' was bland enough to be essentially meaningless.

Marik poked at one of the lumps in the couch with his free hand. "I wish we could go back to the apartment," he said softly.

Ryou squeezed his hand. "We will."

"We should start dinner," Yugi said. From the sympathetic look on his face, Ryou could tell he'd been listening to their conversation.

Marik's face brightened. "Yeah! Dinner sounds good."

Ryou and Marik followed Yugi to the kitchen to 'help', though the real reason was that Marik wasn't to be left alone in the living room. There wasn't much helping to be done, anyway – all Yugi had to do was put the frozen lasagna in the oven.

Since the lasagna would take at least an hour to cook, the three returned to the living room and continued what they'd been doing. Marik moved on to the bones of the arm, then the ribs, which naturally required him to have his hands under Ryou's shirt. "It's way too easy to feel your ribs," he declared. "You need to eat more."

"I eat enough," Ryou protested, though the slight haze in his mind made it a little difficult to argue. Their 'anatomy studies' were having an even greater effect on him than they had the previous day, and he was starting to wish he had an excuse to touch Marik that intensely. _I wonder if I could convince him that I need to feel his ribs, too. Okay, I probably __**could**__ convince him without a particularly good reason, but Yugi would surely notice something was off if I did that._ Ryou tried to remember what they were talking about. "Right. It's just that... o-oh..." Marik's hands traced Ryou's ribs around to the back, leaving the two of them in a loose hug, with Marik's bare arms pressed against Ryou's bare skin.

Ryou looked at Marik. Marik looked back at him. He brought up one hand to stroked Ryou's hair. Ryou involuntarily held his breath, feeling like any movement might break the spell.

But the spell was broken without any movement from him at all. Marik's expression went from content to confused in an instant, finally ending in a frown of pain. He pulled away, clutching his head. "Ow..."

Ryou almost backed away instinctively, but he remembered that Yugi was in the room with them, so Marik's dark side probably couldn't come out. _Is that what happened earlier?_ Ryou wondered. _Did his headache last that long because his dark side wasn't able to emerge with Odion nearby?_ This seemed to make their predicament even worse – keeping Marik's dark side contained didn't seem like much of a plan if it left Marik in perpetual agony.

"Do you need some aspirin?" Yugi asked, coming over to sit at Marik's side.

"No," Marik replied quietly. "It won't help."

Ryou pulled Marik into a hug, pressing Marik's head against his shoulder. Marik sighed, seeming to get some relief out of it, but he was clearly still in pain. "What do we do?" he asked.

Yugi held up his hands. "I have no idea."

"There isn't much you can do," Marik said. "Just wait until it passes."

"Should we call Odion?" Yugi asked, sounding uncertain.

"Not yet," Marik replied. He rested his full weight against Ryou, which had the effect of pressing him back against the couch. "Being at home won't help any."

The three sat silently for a minute. Ryou tried to think of something more that he could do to help Marik, but his mind was blank. He ran though the same ideas over and over again, the loop only broken by an odd... smell. _What __**is**__ that?_ Ryou wondered, sniffing the air again. _That smells like burning-_

"Oh, crap, the lasagna!" Yugi exclaimed, running to the kitchen before anyone could anyone could stop him.

"Wait, Yugi!" Ryou called after him, but it was too late. Marik's size was already increasing. Ryou tried to push him off before he finished transforming, but he was too heavy. Soon not-Marik was glaring down at him, clearly all the more angry for having been kept inside the past few days.

"What do you-" Ryou began, but not-Marik cut him off with a growl. He ripped the top of Ryou's shirt off and bit him _hard_ on the shoulder. Ryou cried out in pain.

Not-Marik was only somewhat pacified by the bite, but after having done it he seemed to lose interest in Ryou entirely. He let go of Ryou, who scurried away as quickly as he could. Not-Marik immediately turned to the couch they'd been sitting on and ripped it to shreds within seconds.

Yugi came running back out of the kitchen. "I heard-" he cut off, eyes widening at the sight of Marik's dark side standing in the middle of his living room.

Not-Marik didn't disappear immediately, as he had when the old woman had seen him. Instead, he held on for several seconds, gripping the arm of the ruined couch to support himself as his body lost its power. He glared at Yugi, a contemptuous grin on his face. He let out one short, angry laugh as he finally collapsed.

Ryou ran over to his friend, dragging his unconscious form over to a nearby chair. "I think he'll be okay there," he told Yugi. "We should call Odion, though."

"That can wait," Yugi said. "We should take care of _that_, first." He pointed to the bite on Ryou's shoulder.

Ryou put a hand over it and pulled it away. There was a tiny spot of blood, but not much. "It's not too bad," he said. "I'll take care of it in the bathroom."

Yugi nodded. "I'll look after Marik."

Ryou washed and dressed his wound as quickly as he could, then went to get a fresh shirt from Yugi's room. He returned to the living room to find Yugi talking on the phone.

"Okay, I won't let him out of my sight until you get here. I promise." Yugi put the phone down and sighed. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have run out the room like that."

"Something was burning. You couldn't help your reaction," Ryou said. He walked over to where Marik sat, still unconscious, and rubbed his shoulder.

Marik began to stir, and, with a little more prodding, woke up entirely. "Huh? What's going on?" he asked, voice and face full of confusion. He became slightly panicked when he saw the couch. "No. Not again. Did he come out while you were here?" Marik asked Yugi, looking even more panicked than before.

"No," Yugi said, looking guilty. "Actually..." He filled Marik in on what happened.

"I'm so sorry," Marik told Ryou, rubbing his arm beneath the bite. He repeated the apology to Yugi. "I'm so sorry. I'll pay for a new couch."

"It's okay," Yugi said. "It's partly my fault, too..."

After being repeatedly assured that they'd work something out about the couch later, and that Ryou would survive sleeping on the floor of Yugi's room in a sleeping bag for the night, Marik went to the bathroom to swish his mouth out with water (with Yugi as escort, naturally). Odion arrived in record time to pick Marik up. He didn't outright criticize anyone for what happened, but Ryou could tell he wasn't going to let Marik out of his sight so easily next time.

* * *

Ryou and Yugi ate the somewhat burned lasagna in silence, both still shaken by what had happened. Yugi retreated to his room afterward, while Ryou sat in the living room writing the event down in his journal. The bite Marik's dark side had given him seemed to confirm something he'd suspected for a little while – namely, that Marik had wanted to kiss him the first time his dark side had emerged. It had certainly felt like Marik was going to kiss him before he got his headache this time. _Does that mean kissing him would help?_ Ryou wondered. _Or would it just make things worse?_ Either way, he wasn't sure he could do it in front of whatever chaperone Marik had at any given time. It was too private.

Eventually, it grew late, and Ryou went back to Yugi's room to get his pajamas. _Is it just me, or is it really bright in here? _Ryou wondered, feeling a little blinded when he entered the room. He went to the bathroom to change and brush his teeth, and when he returned Yugi had already laid out the sleeping bag on the floor.

"Do you need another pillow, or is one fine?" Yugi asked with a yawn.

"One's enough," Ryou said. "Thanks."

"No problem," Yugi said. He turned out the light... but the room didn't grow much darker. "Huh?" Yugi flipped the switch on and off, but it only alternated the lighting between normal and extra-bright.

"It's not coming from in here," Ryou realized, seeing what appeared to be the full moon somewhere outside Yugi's window, though he knew very well that the moon was supposed to be new that day. _It's far too bright to really be the moon anyway,_ he thought.

Yugi left the switch in the off position, joining Ryou at the window. "Is that the UFO?" he asked, rubbing his eyes as though to make sure he was seeing properly. "That... definitely exists. It's a wonder I haven't seen it before."

"I think I saw it before," Ryou admitted. In the face of such obvious evidence, there didn't seem to be any reason to keep it back any longer. "On Saturday morning. It wasn't that bright then, though." He looked at the 'moon' more closely, then frowned a little. "And I think it was in a slightly different location."

"Do you think it's actually a UFO?" Yugi asked, sounding bewildered.

Ryou shrugged. "Technically, it _is_ an 'Unidentified Flying Object'," he said. "Maybe it really is just a malfunctioning Duel Disk, like people are suggesting." The idea seemed plausible enough, but the connection Ryou had seen between where Marik's dark side had gone and where the UFO had appeared resurfaced in his mind. _But why would he want to draw something like that to Domino? And how? Does it have something to do with the heads?_

"Maybe," Yugi said. "But the last time people thought Duel Disks were malfunctioning, it turned out to be something much worse." He closed the curtains over the window, but light still streamed in, albeit not as strongly as before. "It's going to be difficult getting to sleep tonight," he added, getting into bed. He pulled gave Ryou an extra pillow without asking again, then pulled one down over his own eyes. "G'night."

"Good night," Ryou replied, restlessly settling down into the sleeping bag. He followed Yugi's example and put the second pillow over his eyes to block out the light.

He was still very awake, so he spent a bit of time trying to figure out a link between the statue heads and the UFO. It didn't take very long for him to see a _possible_ connection, but if anything it only baffled him more. _The heads all had a solar disc, and that thing out there is a lot like a sun,_ he reasoned. _But does that mean he __**wanted**__ to summon a second sun over Domino, or was that just an accident? What would he have to gain by doing it on purpose? Could he really have been thinking that far ahead?_

He ran through the questions over and over in his mind, unable to come up with any satisfactory conclusions. He couldn't slow down enough to doze off. The pillow was effective in creating the illusion of darkness, but his body was still somehow aware that there was a sun shining outside, and seemed to believe that he should still be up and about.

It took some time before he finally fell asleep. He hoped the second sun wouldn't appear again the next evening, but he had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be so lucky.


	15. Bite Me!

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 15) – Bite Me!**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

The next few days seemed to fly by. Ryou hadn't heard anything from Mokuba, but he wasn't entirely sure he should expect anything so soon, especially knowing the problems that KaibaCorp had been having lately. The second sun had shifted from its original position to one just above KaibaCorp's main headquarters, and many were taking it as confirmation that KaibaCorp was in fact somehow responsible.

_Maybe they are,_ Ryou had thought, knowing how many problems had been caused by Duel Monsters. _I hope they figure out how to fix this one._

The second sun, while not nearly as bright as the real sun, was hot enough to not only make the nights slightly warmer than they had been, but also to disrupt local weather patterns in general. A sudden, spontaneous blizzard had hit Domino City the night before, leaving over a foot of snow in its wake.

Ryou and Yugi had gone out to shovel snow out of the walkway in front of the shop when Marik showed up, eager to play in the snow. "Come on! Let's build a snowman," he said, grabbing Ryou's gloved hand and running off with him before even saying 'hello'.

Odion stood off to the side, watching, as he had the past few days. Ryou was relieved not to be 'studying anatomy' in front of him that day, though Odion hadn't actually seemed to notice anything strange about how they studied the rest of the week. _I guess if no one else noticed, there's not any reason he would either,_ Ryou thought. It didn't make the situation any less awkward.

They spent most of the day showing Marik how to play in the snow. Marik had experienced snow the winter before, but there hadn't been enough to do much of anything with. This time, they made snow angels, had a snowball fight, and built a snow-house for their snowman. Ryou and Yugi had almost as much fun as Marik – they'd both missed out on these things when they were younger, not due to a lack of snow, but due to a lack of friends to do them with. Ryou hadn't played in the snow in over ten years.

Eventually, it got dark, and they went back inside, glad to be back in the warmth. Ryou and Marik took off their snow-covered outer clothes and sat down on the new couch that Ishizu had bought as a replacement just a few days earlier. Marik shivered; he'd only been wearing a T-shirt under his coat.

Ryou put a hand on his arm. "I could get you a sweater, if you're cold," he offered.

But Marik had other ideas. He rubbed Ryou's hand against his skin, saying: "Your hand's nice and warm."

Ryou glanced at the others, but they were too busy with their hats and gloves to notice anything. "Um. I-I could warm you up a little, I suppose." He rubbed both hands up and down Marik's arms. Marik smiled in contentment. Ryou continued to warm Marik up after the others joined them around the coffee table. He stopped only when Marik cringed in pain, reaching for his forehead with one hand.

"Headache?" Ryou asked, wishing he'd stopped early enough to avoid triggering one.

"Yeah..." Marik said, voice filled with agony.

Marik's headaches had been getting worse. He'd come down with at least one every day since the last biting incident, and that didn't even count the headaches that Ryou was fairly certain he was having at home.

The headaches Marik had at the game shop were always the same, in that they always seemed to come when he and Ryou were having some kind of pleasant interaction; Ryou was certain that if they'd been alone, Marik's dark side would have appeared and bitten him several times already. Ryou almost wished not-Marik _would_ appear and bite him already, if only to get rid of the tension, but he couldn't seriously wish that upon his friend.

Ryou watched Marik grip his head in torment. Ryou wracked his brain for a solution, trying to find a way to stop his friend's suffering without letting his dark side out. His mind darted from one useless idea to another, until finally:

"What if _you_ bit me?" Ryou blurted out before he could stop himself.

The response was immediate. Marik looked almost betrayed. "I wouldn't do that!" he said, wincing at the loudness of his own voice. "I wouldn't," he said, more quietly this time.

Ryou scrambled to explain what he'd actually intended by his comment. "No, I know that," he said, putting a hand on Marik's shoulder. "I meant..." Ryou paused. _I wish I'd kept that thought to myself,_ Ryou thought, _but now that I've said it, I'd better tell him what I meant. Otherwise he'll think I see him as the same as his dark side._

Ryou forced himself to explain. "I meant... maybe you... um... maybe you _should_ bite me?" Ryou said uncertainly. The idea had already seemed ridiculous in his head, and it seemed even more so now that he'd said it out loud.

Marik stared at Ryou in confusion, as though not sure he'd heard him correctly. "Huh?"

Ryou looked away from Marik's face, only to find that Yugi and Odion were also staring at him. Yugi seemed just as confused as Marik, but Odion seemed more wary, as though he understood what Ryou was getting at, but wasn't convinced it was a good idea. "It may work," Odion said, briefly touching the scarred side of his face. "For a while."

"What are you talking about?" Yugi asked.

"Well. Um." Ryou looked to Odion for help, but he seemed content to let Ryou stumble over his explanation without assistance. _I suppose I'll just have to take comfort in the fact that he hasn't actually objected to the idea,_ Ryou thought. Ryou turned his focus on Yugi as he gave his response. "Marik's dark side probably wants to bite me. So, if Marik... er..." Ryou felt a blush coming on. "...b-bit me, maybe his dark side would... quiet down for a while?"

Ryou chanced a glance at Marik. His friend's expression had gone from betrayed to determined, though lines of pain were still clear on his face. "I'm not biting you," he said adamantly. "_He_ might want to hurt you, but _I_ don't."

"I know," Ryou said, wishing he'd never brought it up.

"Would you actually have to hurt him, though?" Yugi asked, surprising Ryou a little. His idea was getting far more consideration that he would have expected, given how absurd it was.

"What do you mean?" Marik asked.

"I mean, you could bite him without _really_ biting him, couldn't you?" Yugi speculated.

"Like a pretend bite?" Marik asked, frowning in thought.

Yugi nodded. "Maybe it would fool _him_ for a while."

Marik seemed to think it over. Ryou thought it was probably because Yugi was the one making the suggestion this time.

"It's all right," Ryou said, holding up his hands in a pleading gesture. _I don't want Marik to be coerced into biting me,_ he thought, feeling like he'd inadvertently driven the conversation in an incredibly bizarre direction. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to..."

But it seemed that Marik wasn't quite ready to let the idea pass either. "Would you really be okay with me biting you?" he asked doubtfully.

"Er. Only if you want to," Ryou replied.

Marik's face closed up again. "I don't _want_ to," he insisted. He tried to continue speaking, but suddenly cringed instead, clutching his head in both hands. "Ow..."

_I hope I didn't make things worse,_ Ryou thought. "Maybe... maybe you should try it," he said, rolling up his sleeve and holding out his arm.

Marik stared at the arm. His expression was stubborn, but he seemed to waver every few seconds when the pain of his headache intensified. It wasn't long before he couldn't seem to take it any longer. "If... it's really okay..." he said, voice slightly weak. He took Ryou's arm gently, then looked at all of the faces around him for confirmation, meeting Ryou's eyes last.

"It's fine," Ryou said, giving him a small smile. At this point, he was kind of hoping Marik _would_ do it, just so that they could see whether the idea had any actual merit. _If he doesn't, I'm going to keep wondering whether it would have worked if he had._ "Go ahead."

"Um. Okay," Marik said. Ryou might have been imagining it, but Marik's expression already seemed considerably less pained than it had before.

_Maybe there's something to this..._

Marik leaned his head down over Ryou's arm, then hesitated. Ryou wondered if he might not do it after all, but he soon felt Marik's teeth pressed against his forearm. It wasn't painful; Ryou didn't even think it would leave a mark behind afterward. Ryou nearly shuddered when he felt the tip of Marik's tongue against his skin, but he managed to stop himself in time, knowing that it might be misinterpreted. Or correctly interpreted, for that matter. Either possibility would make the already awkward situation even worse.

"How are you feeling?" Odion asked, eyes focused intently on Marik.

Marik pulled his mouth away from Ryou's arm slowly, lips sliding over Ryou's skin as they closed. Ryou once again had to prevent himself from squirming. _This isn't the time to be thinking about things like that,_ he scolded himself.

"I feel..." Marik paused, taking a deep breath. "A little better," he said, releasing Ryou's arm. "How are _you_ feeling?" he asked Ryou.

Ryou's face grew warm. "Fine," he said.

Marik frowned, probably at the look on Ryou's face. "Are you sure?" he asked, taking Ryou's arm again to give it a closer look. "I didn't hurt you, or...?"

Ryou shook his head. "No, it felt..." _Really, really good._ "...fine." He gestured to his arm as proof. "See? You can't even tell where you did it."

Yugi came over and looked at Ryou's arm. "I can't see anything," he said. He looked at Marik. "Is your headache really gone?" he asked.

Marik nodded cautiously, as though still wary of hurting himself with the movement. "It seems to be." He took Ryou's hand and squeezed it. "Thanks," he said.

"Um. Any time," Ryou replied, though he wondered afterward if it was really the most appropriate thing he could have said under the circumstances. _Well, I **would** be fine with him doing that again, should he get another headache._

Marik didn't look exactly happy, but he didn't refuse Ryou's implied offer, either.

It was Yugi who lightened the mood. "How about some hot chocolate?"

Marik looked at Ryou, who smiled at him again. Marik gave a small smile in return. "Hot chocolate sounds great!" he replied, his enthusiasm seemingly returned to its normal level. He got to his feet. "I'll help you make it."

Yugi and Marik headed for the kitchen. Ryou expected Odion to follow, but he lingered behind, giving Ryou an assessing look. "You were willing to let him bite you," he stated.

Ryou shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had no idea what exactly Odion was looking for in his face, or why he'd said what he just said. "Um. Yes? He's my friend, so..." Ryou trailed off, unable to think of a non-ridiculous way to end the sentence. _What's a little biting between friends?_ "He didn't even properly bite me, in the end."

Odion nodded, face inscrutable. "Yes. It took less to pacify his dark side than I would have anticipated."

"Did... did you think he'd have to actually hurt me?" Ryou asked, wondering just how far Odion would have let Marik go. _Surely he'd be concerned about how Marik would feel about that, if nothing else?_

"Perhaps, though I doubt my brother would have been willing to do it. He's changed a great deal," Odion said. "However, I did believe he would at least have to leave a mark on your skin."

"Why?" Ryou asked. His own interpretation of the situation was that Marik had wanted to kiss him but couldn't admit to it, and the 'bite' had been close enough to that to make his dark side settle down, temporarily, anyway. He knew that Odion was working from an entirely different set of information, though, probably one more heavily dominated by the things Marik's dark side had done before being banished the first time. _I have no idea what conclusions he's come to about this situation..._

"It does not matter," Odion replied. "I was wrong." He continued to assess Ryou's face. Ryou tried to look his best, but it was difficult under the intense gaze. Finally, Odion seemed to come to a decision. "Marik hasn't been sleeping well," he said.

Ryou couldn't quite tell whether Odion was changing the subject or not. "He's seemed a little more worn out lately," Ryou agreed. "He's having headaches every night, isn't he?"

Odion nodded. "Every night. From when we get home until he sees you again." The intent expression returned.

Ryou started to have an inkling of where Odion's mind was going. "Maybe I should see him more often?"

"Perhaps." Odion frowned. "I had thought that his dark side was targeting you to get to Marik, and that he would make fewer attempts to emerge when you were not around."

"But he's trying even harder now," Ryou finished.

"Yes," Odion replied. He paused before continuing. "It might be better for him if you two were not sleeping in separate houses."

"You think we should go back to the apartment?" Ryou asked, hope rising inside him. Though, he was a little wary. The reason Marik had moved out was still a good one. Even if Marik kept getting headaches, it was preferable to his dark side escaping and truly harming someone. _Though, if I could convince Marik to bite me whenever he first gets a headache..._

"No, but it might helpful if you stayed with us," Odion said. His tone was completely neutral, like he didn't expect either agreement or disagreement with his suggestion.

_That idea makes more sense,_ Ryou thought. He had one problem with the reasoning, though, one that he was a little unsure he should bring up. "Um. What if it's not that I'm gone that's causing his dark side to become restless?" Ryou asked quietly. "What if _he_ is unsettled by being around you and Ishizu?"

Odion didn't seem upset by the question. "I had thought of that. But _he_ destroyed your current sleeping place, as well." Odion gestured to the couch Ryou was sitting on.

"Oh," Ryou replied. He hadn't given that part of the incident much thought; the biting had stuck out in his mind much more than the destruction of the couch. "Well, I'd like to stay with Marik again. Especially if it would help," he added.

Odion looked pleased. "Marik will be very happy," he said.

"Happy about what?" Marik asked from the doorway. He and Yugi carried four cups of hot chocolate over to the coffee table. Marik gave one to Ryou, while Yugi gave one to Odion. "I put extra marshmallows in yours," Marik told Ryou as he sat down next to him.

Ryou looked down at his mug and couldn't help but smile at the tennis-ball-sized lump of marshmallows that Marik had put in it. _I guess he had to put in that many for it to really be 'extra', _Ryou thought in amusement, eying the golf-ball-sized lump in Marik's mug. "Thanks," he said, plucking a marshmallow off the top of the ball and eating it.

"Anyway, what am I going to be happy about?" Marik asked again. He slurped some hot chocolate from around the marshmallow lump.

Ryou put his mug down and waited for Marik to swallow what he'd sipped before responding. "I'll be staying at your house."

Marik blinked. "Seriously?" he asked, setting his mug down on the table. He glanced at Odion like he didn't quite believe it yet.

Odion nodded.

Marik practically leapt on top of Ryou, pushing him down on the couch in an enthusiastic hug. "This is great!"

"You aren't worried about _him_ coming out?" Yugi asked.

"Actually..." Ryou began. He quickly explained their reasoning. It felt a little weird doing it with Marik still on top of him, but Ryou was reluctant to push him away just yet.

"That makes sense," Marik replied afterward, though he didn't really seem to care that much about the specific reason Ryou would be coming with them. He sat up, reaching for his hot chocolate.

"It does," Yugi agreed. "You're still going to help decorate the tree, though, right?"

"Of course," Ryou said, feeling cheerful. It had been years since he'd bothered to decorate a tree for Christmas, and he'd been looking forward to it ever since Yugi had mentioned it to him the day before. He took a big gulp from his mug, enjoying the sweet taste of the melted marshmallows.

"I want to help, too," Marik said.

"Grandpa should be closing up, soon," Yugi said, looking at the clock. "Let's get everything ready."

* * *

Ryou, Marik, and Odion helped Yugi get the Christmas stuff out of the closet. It turned out to be lucky Odion was there; the box with the fake tree in it was so large that Ryou wondered exactly how Yugi and his grandpa ever managed to move it around between the two of them. Putting the tree together wasn't nearly as difficult, though, and they'd assembled it in its entirety by the time Yugi's grandpa joined them.

The Moto family ornaments were what Ryou would have expected. All the Duel Monsters ornaments that had been produced were there, along with several complete series of ornaments from other popular games. Ryou recognized a few Monster World ones in the mix.

They put up the lights first, though they ended up replacing about half the bulbs with power connectors to the various ornaments, allowing them to glow, talk, and do whatever special things had been programmed into them. One of the ornaments Ryou hooked up was a Blue Eyes White Dragon with light-up eyes, which made him wonder if there was a tree in Kaiba's office somewhere covered entirely with them. _I'm surprised he even let anyone else have one._

Marik had a little too much fun with the tinsel, and he still had a bit in his hair when they left.

"That was fun!" Marik said when they reached the Ishtar home. "Maybe we should do a tree, too. A real one."

"Maybe," Ryou said, aware that he wasn't the one to make the decision about having a tree in the house. Ryou glanced at Odion, but he was busy getting Ryou's stuff out of the trunk. "I can take one of those bags," he offered.

"It's no problem," Odion replied, carrying both large bags with no apparent difficulty.

Ishizu was sitting in the living room when they arrived. She didn't look the slightest bit surprised to see Ryou or his bags; it made Ryou wonder how long Odion had been contemplating asking him to come.

They set Ryou up in Marik's room, since Marik was still sleeping in Odion's. There was a new mattress on the bed, since Marik's dark side had ripped up the old one. All the signs of that outburst were gone, and the room seemed like it had barely been used since then.

He put his things away, changed into his pajamas, and brushed his teeth. Marik came in to say 'good night' to him, Odion trailing behind him as usual. "So, how do you like it in here?" Marik asked, bouncing on the bed next to Ryou.

Ryou smiled. "It's very comfortable."

"Better than the couch at Yugi's?" Marik asked.

Ryou thought he heard an odd sort of competitiveness in the question, but he couldn't be completely sure. "It'll be nice to sleep in a bed again," Ryou replied, not really wanting to insult either of his friends, even if one wasn't there at the moment. He yawned, already feeling sleepy.

"I should let you sleep," Marik said. He got up from the bed. "I'll see you in the... ah!" Marik doubled over before he'd even taken a step, face pained.

"Another headache?" Ryou asked, helping him sit back down on the bed. _Odion went to all that trouble and I'm not even really helping Marik..._

"Yeah," Marik said, rubbing his face.

"Er. You could try biting me again..." Ryou said, offering his arm.

Marik stared at the arm ambivalently. He glanced at Ryou's face, then sighed, taking the arm in his hands. He leaned his head down and 'bit' Ryou's arm, though his teeth barely even touched Ryou's skin this time.

"Did it work?" Ryou asked.

Marik let go of Ryou's arm. "Yeah," he said, sounding only slightly relieved. "Thanks." He stood. "Good- ow!" Marik collapsed again.

Ryou caught him, falling backward under the weight. "Oof!"

"Sorry," Marik said, touching his temples gingerly. "It was there, but it's gone again, so..." He moved to get up again, but Ryou stopped him, holding onto his arm.

"Um. Maybe you should stay in this room tonight?" Ryou suggested. "I can sleep on the couch, or..."

"In my bed," Odion said. "We'll switch rooms for the night." Ryou might have been imagining it, but he could have sworn that Odion's expression was doubtful, as though he didn't really believe what he was saying would actually occur.

"Okay," Ryou said. It seemed like a perfectly sensible plan to him, whatever Odion's face seemed to be saying.

"There's a sleeping bag rolled out on the floor. Could you bring it to me?" Odion asked, moving into the room fully.

"Alright," Ryou said, realizing that Odion couldn't very well get it himself and stay with Marik in the room at the same time. He went to Odion's room and retrieved the sleeping bag, taking only a second to notice the sparse décor. _There was probably a lot more stuff in here before they cleared out everything Egyptian,_ he thought.

Ryou brought the sleeping bag back to Marik's room and handed it to Odion, who laid it out on the floor. Ryou looked at Marik and was dismayed to see him lying on the bed, once again clutching his head in pain. Ryou sat down next to him on the bed, taking his hand and squeezing it.

Marik sighed, seeming to find a certain amount of relief in the touch. "Thanks," he said. "It feels better now..."

Ryou glanced at Odion, who didn't look surprised at all. He thought about the doubt on his face a few minutes earlier. _I think I get it now..._ "Um. I could stay here until you fall asleep, if you'd like," Ryou offered.

Marik's face brightened. "You could?" he asked, though he was already pulling the covers over the two of them.

Ryou nodded as he laid himself down properly. "There's no reason why not."

Odion turned off the light without waiting for further discussion. Marik's window faced away from KaibaCorp, so the curtains were enough to block out the light of the mini-sun. Marik seemed content to simply hold Ryou's hand as he drifted off, and didn't try to pull him closer.

* * *

There were a lot of things on Ryou's mind as he tried to sleep. Like what Odion thought about them sleeping in the same bed – he was obviously comfortable enough with it not to comment on it, but what he thought it _meant_ was another matter entirely. Then there was the matter of what Ishizu would think about the situation, especially since she seemed to know about Ryou's feelings.

But these were both minor concerns in comparison to what was _really_ at the front of Ryou's thoughts:

_Please, **please** don't let us wake up the way we did last time..._


	16. The Third God

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 16) – The Third God  
**Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou drifted back to awareness slowly. He was warm and comfortable, and returning to the waking world didn't seem especially urgent at the moment. He remained in this hazy, half-awake state until he felt something tickling his nose. He sniffed automatically at the sensation and smelled traces of some kind of soap. _Hmm?_

Ryou opened his eyes, blinking away any vestige of sleepiness. He looked down and saw Marik's head rested against his chest. Ryou patted Marik's hair down to stop it from tickling his face. Marik sighed in his sleep and snuggled closer, hands buried somewhere beneath the back of Ryou's pajama shirt, legs intertwined with Ryou's. It wasn't the most appropriate position they could have been in, but they were pretty well concealed by the cocoon of blankets that had somehow gotten whirled around them during the night.

Ryou was just glad that neither of them had gotten overexcited during the night, though both of their bodies were showing a keen interest in their current position. _I should probably get up before anything truly embarrassing happens,_ Ryou thought. Ryou gave Marik a gentle push, attempting to roll out from under him.

Marik made an soft, indignant sound. He tightened his embrace, rubbing his body right against Ryou's in the process.

Ryou sucked in a breath, immediately stopping his attempt to push Marik away. _Any more of that and..._ His face turned red. Ryou knew Odion was in the room somewhere, though he couldn't see much of the room from where they lay on the bed. _Hopefully, he's still asleep, too,_ Ryou thought.

After a moment's thought, Ryou held on to Marik and shifted them both into what was almost a sitting position. He bit his lip at the lovely friction it caused, stopping himself from making any revealing noises. He closed his eyes for a moment, allowing his breathing to return to normal, then opened them again to take a look around. His eyes wandered to the window first, taking in the morning sun, the birds in the tree outside, the purple curtains...

...Odion, sitting in the chair next to the window, staring at him...

"Ack!" Ryou instinctively tried to shove Marik off him, feeling slightly panicked. _How long has he been watching us? What did he see? I mean, there wasn't anything to see, but what if he __**thinks**__ he saw something that might be-_

"Nnn," Marik grumbled, wrapping his legs firmly around Ryou to prevent him from moving around.

_Please don't do this now!_ Ryou thought, still frantically attempting to push Marik away. He couldn't seem to get any leverage, no matter how he shifted himself about.

"The blankets are trapping you," Odion said, tone completely neutral. "Stop moving."

Ryou did as he was told, wondering just what Odion was thinking. He didn't seem upset or even surprised to see them bundled up together. _But then, for all I know he's been watching us for hours,_ Ryou thought.

Odion felt around for the end of the blanket and pulled it out from under them. He tugged the blanket downward, freeing them from the cocoon... and revealing the somewhat questionable arrangement of their bodies for Odion to see.

Ryou did his best to look natural, but Marik chose that moment to nuzzle his cheek sleepily. _I'm just doomed, aren't I?_

Fortunately, Odion didn't seem to see anything strange about the situation. He shook Marik's shoulder gently. "Marik."

Marik stirred a little, but didn't wake.

Odion shook a little harder, then pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his beige-colored sleeping clothes. He took the top off and held the bottle up to Marik's nose. The bottle was close enough for Ryou to smell the strong scent of spices from whatever was inside.

Odion pulled the bottle away when Marik's eyes opened.

Marik sat up in Ryou's lap, pulling his hands out from under Ryou's shirt. He rubbed his nose, then yawned. "Morning," he said. He looked down at Ryou, slowly becoming aware of where he was. "Did I roll on top of you while we were sleeping?" he asked.

"Er. Yes," Ryou replied.

"Sorry 'bout that," he said, yawning again. He was so unaffected by the whole thing that Ryou started to wonder if he even remembered how they'd awoken last time.

_Or is it that he does remember, and this is just nothing in comparison?_ Ryou wondered. "It's okay," he told Marik.

"Well, thanks for staying with me, then," Marik replied, taking Ryou's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Hopefully, you won't be stuck with me tonight," he added, slipping out of Ryou's lap.

Ryou immediately pulled his knees up to his chest, hugging his legs. "It wouldn't be a problem," he assured Marik, feeling fairly sure that they were going to end up in the same bed again that night, and quite possibly in the same position the next morning. He glanced at Odion's face and thought he saw a similar level of certainty.

Marik smiled at him, then jumped off the bed. "Breakfast time!" he said enthusiastically, any signs that he'd been sleeping a few minutes earlier completely gone from his face.

"Sounds good," Ryou said, following Marik and Odion down to the kitchen.

Ishizu was already there eating her breakfast. Ryou and Marik poured themselves bowls of cereal, while Odion made himself some toast. Ryou ate fairly quickly, finishing before any of the others. He washed his bowl, then said he was going to go take his shower. He walked out of the kitchen quickly, hoping to be finished with the bathroom before anyone else needed it.

Odion followed Ryou out the door, leaving Marik in the kitchen with Ishizu. "What do you intend to do today?" Odion asked.

Ryou blinked. "Um. I hadn't really decided yet," he said, wondering why Odion was so interested. _Maybe he doesn't want to follow Marik somewhere boring?_ Ryou thought, though it didn't really seem like something the stoic man would care much about.

"It would be helpful if you went somewhere Marik couldn't come with you today," Odion said.

"Why?" Ryou asked, feeling slightly uneasy. He couldn't help but wonder if Odion had, in fact, realized something from the way they'd woken up, and was trying to separate them because of it.

But Odion's answer dispelled that idea immediately. "I wish to see how he reacts."

"Whether he gets a headache, you mean?" Ryou asked, starting to catch on to the purpose of the plan.

Odion nodded. "Yes."

_That's a good idea_, Ryou thought. Marik had never needed to be in his presence 24 hours a day before; the constant headaches when he wasn't around were new. _It would be good to narrow down what was causing that. _"I can find somewhere to go for the next few hours," he said.

"Thank you," Odion replied. He turned back toward the kitchen, then paused, glancing back at Ryou. "It would work best if you didn't tell him the real reason for what you're doing."

"I won't tell him," Ryou agreed. He'd already planned on keeping the reason from Marik, for probably the same reason Odion was thinking of: namely, not wanting to let Marik's dark side know what they were testing. It was an obvious precaution, but Ryou was a tad surprised by how he and Odion seemed to be on the same page about keeping this sort of thing from Marik. He'd thought that Odion would be more concerned about hiding things from his brother, but then he remembered just how much Odion _had_ kept from Marik in the past – everything from how their father had really been killed to even the very existence of his dark side.

_I suppose he just cares more about Marik's wellbeing than honesty,_ Ryou thought, starting to feel an odd affinity for the man. He loved Yugi and his other friends dearly, but this was one area where they didn't necessarily see the world the same way.

Odion bowed his head once more, then returned to the kitchen.

Ryou went to shower and change, then went to find Marik and Odion in the living room to say goodbye. He'd already thought of what he was going to do with his time. "I'm going out shopping," he said. "I'll see you later."

"Shopping?" Marik asked, looking a little puzzled. "For what?"

"Well, I can't really say..." Ryou said with a smile.

"Oh! Right, Christmas," Marik replied, looking thoughtful. "See ya."

* * *

While he'd thought of it pretty much in response to Odion's request that he leave Marik alone that morning, Ryou did indeed go Christmas shopping in downtown Domino City. It only took a couple of hours, despite the masses of people crowding the shops and the fact that he had no idea what he intended to get anyone when he got there. He browsed the various shops until he found something for each of his friends, along with small gifts for Odion and Ishizu.

He wrapped his presents right after he finished shopping, before going anywhere else – a necessary precaution in light of Marik's natural curiosity. At the shop where he bought the wrapping paper, he also picked up a few Christmas decorations. He hadn't bothered to do anything for Christmas in years – it hadn't seemed worth it when he'd been living alone – but he thought Marik might like the festive designs.

He also bought some little craft kits, thinking it might be fun to make mini-snowman versions of his friends. It had been a while since he'd had the time to make models, and seeing the kits made him want to do it again.

Ryou still had some time left, so he decided to do something he'd been intending to do for a while: go to the museum to try and find out more about solar discs. It wasn't something he could do with Marik around, so right then was a perfect opportunity.

Yugi hadn't been able to tell him much about the discs, other than that they were worn by gods and goddesses associated with the sun. "It's a pretty basic, straightforward symbolism," he'd said with a shrug.

_Still, I should at least find out more about that group of gods,_ Ryou thought. He made his way to what used to be his father's office at the museum, tentatively knocking on the door.

"Come in," Ishizu called from inside the room.

Ryou entered the room quietly, hoping he wasn't bothering Ishizu while she was busy. "Hello," he said.

"Hi," she replied, looking surprised to see him. "What brought you to the museum?" she asked, sparing a mildly curious glance at the bags full of presents.

Ryou explained what he was hoping to find. "I don't know if it means anything, but..."

Ishizu held up her hands. "No, it sounds like you may have found something. If you believe it will help my brother, you may have access to anything you need."

"Thank you," Ryou replied. He set the bags he was holding down on the floor, then rotated his shoulders.

Ishizu walked over to the bookcase, glancing at various titles. "Where would you like to begin?" she asked.

"Um." Ryou didn't quite know what book would have the information he wanted. _I doubt there's a book entirely about the solar disc itself,_ he thought. "What gods are associated with the solar disc?" he asked, searching for a good place to start. "Besides Hathor, Sekmet, and Ra, I mean."

Ishizu turned back toward him. Her eyes drifted to the side as she recalled the information, tapping a finger each time she said a name. "Most are other forms of Ra – Wedjat, Amun, Horus, variations on those. Then there are the other goddesses in the Eye of Ra – Tefnut, Bast..."

"So, there are really only two groups related to the solar disc..." Ryou surmised, "Ra, and the goddesses making up the Eye of Ra?"

Ishizu nodded, then frowned. "Yes. Well..." An ambivalent look passed across her face. "Those are the only _real_ gods associated with the solar disc."

_That's kind of a strange way to put it,_ Ryou thought. "Er. Are there _fake_ gods associated with the solar disc?" he asked, half-kidding.

Ishizu wasn't joking, however. "There was... one. But that is heresy."

"Heresy?" Ryou asked, interest suddenly piqued. He couldn't see any reason why Marik's dark side would care about Ra, or the Eye of Ra, but a _heretical_ god seemed right up his alley.

"Yes," Ishizu replied. She sighed, clearly realizing that Ryou was going to want the full explanation. "Thousands of years ago, there was a brief... schism, of sorts, among the priests, when the High Priest Aknadin came to power."

"Aknadin," Ryou repeated, recognizing the name, but not quite able to place it at first. He opened his mouth to ask for more information when the memory hit him like a bullet train. "Wait, _Aknadin_," he sputtered. "You mean-!"

"Yes," Ishizu said calmly. "The same Aknadin who created the Millennium Items. So, you can see that he was someone who would do anything for power."

Ryou nodded weakly. "What did he do in this case?"

"When he was first given his position as High Priest in the Pharaoh's court," Ishizu began, "he'd already made many enemies among the priests of the other temples. Most of them were aligned against him politically, and even those that were neutral towards him had powers he thought should rest solely in the hands of the Pharaoh's High Priest."

"What kind of powers?" Ryou asked.

"The powers of the individual gods they were dedicated to," Ishizu replied. "The power to perform rituals their honor, to collect donations, and so on. He also disliked that the people divided their devotion between the different temples."

"And their _money_ between temples?" Ryou asked, feeling it probably made more of a difference.

Ishizu smiled at him. "Yes, that too, but the devotion was truly important to him. He didn't like that the people had something to be loyal to outside the royal family."

"So, what did he do?" Ryou asked.

The smile left Ishizu's face. "He invented a new god from the solar disc, claimed it was the only true god, and tried to have all the others eliminated."

Ryou blinked. "He _invented_ a god? Did... did anybody really go along with that?" he asked, feeling doubtful. He couldn't see people giving up all their gods just because someone declared them all false.

"Not in reality, no," Ishizu replied. "But he had the authority of the Pharaoh's court behind him, and for a time he was able to force his new god on the people. He had temples destroyed, people imprisoned... many important artifacts were lost," she added, looking pained. "He banned all rituals associated with the old gods, claiming they were no longer necessary under his new god."

"So, what happened?" Ryou asked. He was aware that the worship of Ra and the other gods had gone on well after Aknadin's time, so he knew that the campaign couldn't have been successful in the end, but he was still curious about how it had ended.

"The people didn't tolerate having their gods taken from them," Ishizu explained, "and Aknadin's brother, the Pharaoh, came to see that the new god was of little use to anyone. So, he reversed all of the High Priest's edicts, had all the temples to the new god burned, and forbade the people from speaking of it ever again. The people were happy to obey, in this case."

"They would be," Ryou agreed. He considered the information he'd just been given. It did seem important – possibly the best lead he'd had in a while – but he didn't have much of an idea of what to do next. "What was the false god's name?" he asked.

Ishizu shook her head. "We do not speak it aloud," she said. She knelt down next to the bookcase, tracing her finger over the books on the second-lowest shelf. When she found the book she was looking for, she slid it off of the shelf and handed it to Ryou. "This book has more information, such as it is."

"Thank you," Ryou said, carefully taking the book from her hands. It was entitled 'the Aten Heresy', and the cover featured the familiar solar disc overlaid with a pair of open hands.

"You may take the book home, as long as you keep it away from Marik's eyes," Ishizu told him.

"You don't have to worry," Ryou assured her. "I will."

* * *

Once he'd thanked Ishizu for helping him, Ryou headed back to the Ishtar family home. He read a little of the book on the bus, but didn't gleam much more from the introductory chapter than Ishizu had already told him. He did learn that, as the name of the book implied, the god's name was 'Aten', which most believed to be derived from the ending of Akn_adin_'s name, altered slightly to be less obvious. _That does sound like something he'd do,_ Ryou thought when he read that part.

Ryou hid the book at the bottom of the bag of presents before going back into the house. As he entered the living room, he stopped dead in his tracks, eyes going wide at the sight in front of him. He was tempted to walk back out again, certain he'd somehow wandered into the wrong house.

"Oh, hey! You're back," Marik said, poking his head out from behind the _massive_ fir tree dominating the center of the living room.

"Y-yeah," Ryou stammered, still boggling over the giant tree. It seemed to barely fit in the room; the top of the tree hit the ten-foot-high ceiling and then bent over. _It's a wonder this thing is even standing, _he thought. The bottom branches were too wide for him to see the base of the tree, but he hoped they'd used something strong to hold it upright. "Er. Where's Odion?" he asked, thinking that Marik wasn't supposed to be alone.

Odion appeared from behind the tree and nodded at Ryou. "Welcome back," he said.

"Hi," Ryou said in return. "So, you, uh, decided to get a tree?" he asked, unable to think of anything better to say.

"Yeah!" Marik said enthusiastically. "We got the biggest one on the lot, too."

_I would hope there weren't any bigger than that!_ Ryou thought. "That's good," he said. He held up one of his bags. "I have some decorations."

"Ooh, nice." Marik took the bag and looked inside. "It'll be good to have other decorations, too," he said. "It would be a little weird to have just the tree and nothing else."

"Yeah..." Ryou agreed weakly, setting the other bags down on the floor. "I suppose that would be weird."

Marik set the bag of decorations on the coffee table, then grabbed Ryou's hand, pulling him around to the other side of the tree. "Let's put the ornaments on," he said, gesturing at a few bags Ryou hadn't been able to see before.

"Okay," Ryou said with a small smile. Marik's excitement was starting to wear off on him. _It's good that he's having fun,_ Ryou thought. _No, wait..._ Ryou realized. _It's **great** that he's having fun! He must not have had a headache while I was gone, and that's a **very** good thing._ Ryou took a moment to ponder what that meant about the cause of Marik's headaches, but soon shook his head. _I can think about that later. Right now we're decorating the tree._

"I got this to wrap around it," Marik said, holding up something that looked more like a purple feather boa than a tree garland. "But I'm not sure it'll go the whole way."

"We might need more than one," Ryou agreed, helping Marik drape the line of feathers over the tree.

Discussion turned to how to best decorate such a large tree, and Ryou quickly became too absorbed in the project to think about anything else. Thoughts of headaches and solar discs and false gods left his head entirely, returning only briefly when they crowned the tree with its final star.


	17. Red Light, Green Light

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 17) – Red Light, Green Light**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.  
**A/N**: This chapter is a little short, but it has to go before the next chapter, which will hopefully be special enough to make up for it ;)

* * *

Marik was starting to drive Ryou a little insane.

Sure, he loved his friend dearly, and he more than enjoyed the many 'biting' sessions that they'd had over the past several days, in between 'anatomy studies' and tree-decorating, which had turned into a multiple day project.

It wasn't that the 'biting' sessions weren't pleasurable – quite the opposite, in fact. The 'biting' sessions were a little too pleasurable, without being entirely satisfying. Marik could get him worked up far too quickly for anyone's good, but due to his perspective on what they were doing, never went far beyond that.

Ryou almost felt like he was being teased, but the sadness in Marik's face whenever he said 'I think _he_ wants to bite you' seemed to rule it out. The fact that the action _was_ effective in keeping Marik's dark side away – so effective that Odion no longer felt the need to stay in the exact same room as Marik at all times – also seemed to clear his friend of any charge of purposeful teasing.

Still, there were some things that just didn't feel like they could be done accidentally.

"W-why are you sucking on my finger again?" Ryou breathed, having already forgotten the reason. He was certain it had been explained to him at some point, but he was finding it difficult to focus. And sit still. And remember his own name.

Marik sucked on Ryou's index finger one more time, then pulled his mouth away slightly. "So I don't get any more marks all over your arms," he said, swirling his tongue over the tip of Ryou's finger. "Makes sense, right?"

As carefully as Marik went about it, in the end he was still sucking on Ryou's skin, which if done for any significant amount of time left Ryou with lots of red marks up and down his arms. Ryou didn't mind them all that much, but they made Marik unhappy. 'It looks like you've got some kind of weird disease,' he'd said a few times, always looking a little guilty about it.

"H-huh?" Ryou replied, having missed the explanation entirely. His other hand had the fabric of the couch cushion in a death grip, and it was all he could do to keep himself from just grabbing Marik and... and...

He could work out that part later, but pretty much _anything_ would help to ease his frustration at this point.

Marik let go of Ryou's hand. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked, sounding uneasy. "You look uncomfortable."

_I **am** uncomfortable, but probably not in the way you're worried about. _"I'm fine," Ryou insisted.

"Well, my headache's completely gone, so I should probably stop," Marik said, sliding out of Ryou's lap.

"N-no, really, you don't have to stop..." Ryou almost pleaded. He would have been embarrassed by the desperation in his voice, but he was certain Marik couldn't hear it.

"Like I said, it's not necessary," Marik replied. "And anyway, if you want to go with Ishizu, you'll have to leave now," he added, gesturing to the side of the Christmas tree.

Ryou turned to see Ishizu looking right at him with an impenetrable look on her face. Ryou wished he could just fade into the couch they were sitting on, but he knew it wasn't an option, so got up and went to join Ishizu, holding his bag in front of him. "R-right," he said, avoiding Ishizu's gaze. "I'll see you later," he told Marik.

"Bye!" Marik said cheerfully.

* * *

The ride to the museum was conducted in what Ryou felt was a somewhat awkward silence. Ryou didn't know quite how much Ishizu had seen, but he didn't exactly want to ask, either. _We really shouldn't have been doing that in the middle of the living room, but moving to another room might be too much of a delay when his dark side is threatening to emerge._

Ryou's main purpose for coming to the museum was to read the book Ishizu had given him. He hadn't been able to read much further in the book since he'd gotten it, mostly because he couldn't risk Marik seeing it, so he'd asked Ishizu if he could read it in her office. He'd figured he could come up with some reason for going to the museum that he give to Marik, but Marik hadn't seemed to want to know – as soon as Ryou had brought up the museum, he'd lost interest.

Ryou didn't start reading immediately, instead opting to help Ishizu set up one of the recent displays for the winter season. It wasn't _quite_ an apology for what he'd been doing with her brother in the middle of their living room, but he had to admit that the incident had only increased his desire to be helpful.

The display was small, but detailed, featuring drawings of the god Osiris and his rebirth, which according to ancient Egyptian tradition took place on December 21st, the winter solstice. "The day the light begins to return," Ishizu explained.

_Except the light is never gone, now..._ Ryou thought, seeing an image of the nightly fake sun strongly in his mind. He still wasn't sure exactly what it was, or why Marik's dark side had summoned it, but he knew it had something to do with the false god Ishizu had directed him to, and he also knew that attempts to use false spiritual powers _never_ went well. _I bet this is much worse than making a fake god card!_

Ishizu's soft voice gently prodded him out of his revery. "You know," she began, "Marik believes that you hate what he's been doing to you."

Ryou's face grew hot. Ishizu hadn't talked to him about his relationship with Marik since she'd realized what his feelings were; he'd assumed she was content to let him move at his own pace. _Perhaps what she saw earlier changed her mind,_ he thought. "I've tried to tell him otherwise," Ryou said, unable to look at her face. _I really don't need her thinking about what I'm doing with her brother. Or what I want to do with her brother. Not in specifics, anyway._

But Ishizu put a hand under his chin and delicately prompted him to look at her. "He doesn't believe you," she said. "He thinks you're saying it to protect his feelings. I love my brother, but he can be a little thick about some things. If you want him to understand, you'll have to explain it to him."

"Y-you aren't going to tell him, are you?" Ryou asked, starting to panic a little. He wasn't ready for Marik to find out, he'd need a plan for dealing with that, he-

Ishizu dropped her hand. "No," she said firmly. "That is not for me to do."

Ryou felt a wave of relief. "I'd tell him," he said quietly, "but I don't know how he'd react. Or how his dark side would react."

"You'll never be able to predict his dark side's reaction to anything," Ishizu said. "It has as much chance of helping as it does of hurting."

"But what about Marik himself?" Ryou asked, starting a little better for being able to talk about his problem with someone. It certainly beat running around in the same circles over and over in his own mind.

"I can't predict that, either," Ishizu said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But I doubt there's anything you could say that would lose you his friendship."

"Thanks," Ryou said, feeling a small weight lifted off his shoulders. He still didn't feel ready to tell Marik, but Ishizu's words did reassure him. _I wish I had a better idea of how to go about telling him,_ Ryou reflected. "Um. What does he think about... er... t-two men and...?"

"I don't know," Ishizu replied. "It's not something we've ever talked about."

"What do the tombkeepers think about it?" Ryou asked, thought he doubted it was anything positive.

Ishizu shook her head. "They don't think anything about it," she said. "Marriages are arranged, and are for the purpose of producing more tombkeepers. None of us knew the outside world was any different until we saw it for ourselves."

"Oh," Ryou replied. He supposed it made sense, but it didn't help him that much. "Well. Um. What did you think when you first saw two men who... were in that kind of relationship?"

An odd, small smile crossed Ishizu's face, as though she was amused at the memory. "Ah. Yes, that was certainly... surprising," she said.

"Surprising?" Ryou repeated. _I guess it would be, after living in tombkeeper society all that time._

"Yes," Ishizu said. "I had just left the tombkeepers and come to Cairo in search of Marik. The Millennium Necklace gave me visions of the near futures of almost everyone I encountered. In the case of one pair of men, this future was something I would never have imagined on my own."

"O-oh," Ryou replied again, feeling a small amount of proxy-embarrassment for the unnamed men. "That _would_ be surprising. What did you... um.. think about it?"

Ishizu shrugged. "It was preferable to the visions of death and disease I often received," she said, giving him an encouraging smile. "And I doubt Marik felt much differently when he first discovered such things. It's not something to be concerned about, not in comparison to the other things he's experienced."

"I hope you're right," Ryou replied, wishing he could be as confident about Marik's feelings as she was. _If she knew for certain, it would be one thing, but this is just speculation._

Ishizu patted his shoulder again, and they returned to working on the display in silence.

* * *

Once they finished putting up the display, Ryou went to Ishizu's office to read the book she'd given him. He learned a great deal more about Aten, and Aknadin, than he'd known before, but nothing that enlightened him on the current situation. He eventually decided that he'd read enough for the day, and headed back to the house by bus.

Marik pounced on Ryou as soon as he got home, eager for more 'anatomy studies'. They'd made it to the chapter on the cardiovascular system, so this mostly involved taking Ryou's pulse in various different ways – first on his wrist, then on his neck, then with his ear directly on Ryou's bare chest.

"Are you, uh, sure this is an effective way of taking my pulse?" Ryou asked, blood rushing to his face. He could already tell where this was going to lead.

"It should work," Marik replied, breath gusting over Ryou's skin. He paused. "You know, I think your heartbeat's gone up."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Ryou replied, trying not to squirm. _Perhaps Ishizu is right about this whole talking to him thing,_ he thought, imagining how nice it would be to not have Marik unintentionally driving him nuts all the time. _But having that is better than having nothing, right?_ Ryou reminded himself, remembering his reasons for keeping his feelings to himself so far.

Marik lifted his head from Ryou's chest, and the familiar pained look on his face drove away any thought of telling him just then. He gave Ryou an almost anguished look. "Ah! I think... I think I want to bite you," he said. His tone was urgent, but his face relaxed as soon as the words left his mouth.

Ryou held out his arm, but the pained grimace was already fading from Marik's face. "Do you still need to...?"

Marik looked at the arm and frowned, seeming slightly confused. "Um. I... I don't know?" he said. "I don't think so," he added, still not sounding entirely confident.

"Is your headache gone?" Ryou asked, lowering his arm.

Marik slowly tilted his head from side to side as though testing the question out before answering. "Yeah, it's gone," he finally replied. "The feeling is still there, but I don't think I have to actually _do_ it," he added, sounding a bit like he'd come across an entirely alien concept.

"Well, it's not like you have to do everything that comes to mind," Ryou said.

Marik stared at him blankly for a long moment before responding. "No, of course not," he agreed belatedly.

Ryou's thoughts were too focused on something else for him to spare much thought to Marik's reaction. "Do you know why _he_ decided to quiet down?" Ryou asked him.

Marik shook his head. "No idea. I'm glad he did, though." Marik glanced at the clock. "Dinner should be ready soon," he said, sounding eager to get away from the topic of his dark side.

"That's good," Ryou said, realizing that if Marik was unwilling to seriously think about it, he was unlikely to get much more out of the conversation anyway. "We should set the table," he added, not wanting Odion to end up doing everything.

"Okay," Marik replied, grabbing Ryou's hand and pulling him toward the kitchen.

* * *

Dinner was fairly uneventful, though Ryou naturally enjoyed the feeling of belonging that came with eating with Marik's family. Ishizu gave him a few significant looks across the table, reminding him of the need to have a talk with Marik, but he only smiled and continued eating. It wasn't like he could speak with Marik about something that important that just then, anyway.

After they finished eating, Ryou fished his journal out of the bottom of his book-bag and took it to the bathroom, which was the only place he could guarantee Marik wouldn't see him writing in it without going out.

He made a quick note of what had happened earlier, then simply sat and thought about what it might mean. _He seemed to feel better right after he mentioned biting me, but that's never happened before. What makes this time different from all the other times?_

Ryou wracked his brain for several minutes, but while something felt qualitatively different about the incident, he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. He was about to give up for the time being when inspiration struck. _Wait, this time he-_

A loud knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Uh, I need the bathroom," came Marik's voice through the door. "Are you going to be done soon?"

Ryou blinked, having lost all track of time. He closed the book and shoved it in his pocket. "It's alright," he said, unlocking and opening the door. "I'm done."

"You were in there a long time," Marik said, looking him over as though expecting to see something worrisome. "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," Ryou assured him, quickly making his escape through the door. "It's all yours."

Marik shrugged. "Okay," he said, closing the door behind him.

_I probably shouldn't spend so much time in there next time, _Ryou thought to himself as he walked back to the living room and sat down next to the giant tree. _I really only have to write in the journal in there. I can think wherever I want. Now, what was I thinking about when he knocked on the door?_

Ryou attempted to recall the tiny flicker of insight that had hit him, but found he couldn't. Marik hadn't just interrupted his train of thought, he'd completely derailed it. Ryou sighed. _I'll think of it again eventually, I'm sure. _

He packed his journal away and went to change into his pajamas. He hoped that the idea would return to him before he fell asleep, but he wasn't counting on it.


	18. When Words Become Superfluous

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 18) – When Words Become Superfluous  
**Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.  
**A/N**: A little early this week, whoo!

* * *

Very little happened over the next few days. Ryou hadn't ignored Ishizu's advice – in fact, he hadn't thought about much else. However, the more he thought about it, the more uncertain he became. He tried to envision himself talking with Marik about their situation, but he never had any idea how such a conversation would even begin.

The heart of the problem was that he didn't know what Marik thought about their relationship, in particular what he thought about the things they'd been doing together that... went somewhat beyond what friends normally did together. _How am I supposed to explain it to him if I don't know what I even need to explain?_ Ryou wondered. _And would I really be explaining it to him, or would I be... well, __confronting__ him about it? How far in denial is he?_

The answer to that question seemed to vary. Over the past few days, Marik had gotten his fair share of headaches. They'd cured most of them with more 'biting', but there'd also been a few more false alarms, where Marik had gotten the headache, declared his desire to bite Ryou, and then promptly returned to normal without actually needing to do it.

While Ryou had strained to figure out a reason for this the first time it had happened (and had then lost hold of the idea almost immediately), after seeing it happen a few more times, the pattern couldn't be more obvious. When Marik pinned the desire to bite Ryou on his dark side, the headache continued. When he stated the desire to be his own, the headache disappeared, and Marik remained fully able to control himself.

Unfortunately, Marik didn't see the pattern as clearly as Ryou did – or just wasn't as willing to accept it. The understanding of what was going on had come to Ryou after one of Marik's false alarms, right after Marik had said the all-important words 'I think I want to bite you', and started feeling better. Ryou had been so struck by the realization that he'd simply blurted out what had occurred to him without thinking about his words: 'Wait, _you_ want to bite me, not him!'

Marik's face had closed up immediately. 'No, I don't!' he'd protested, clutching his head in renewed agony.

Ryou had rushed to reassure him, terribly aware that his hasty comment had brought back his friend's headache. They'd cured the headache with a small bite, as usual, but Marik had been far more reluctant this time, as though he'd taken Ryou's words to be an accusation and didn't want to prove him correct.

Ryou hadn't brought his discovery up since then, though he understood how important it was. If Marik could acknowledge what he wanted consistently, then he might even be able to keep his dark side away indefinitely. _But how do I get him to acknowledge it?_ Ryou wondered. _He's only done it for a few seconds so far, and he shut down the instant I pointed it out. It was more of a slip-up than something __he did consciously._

And so Ryou felt like he'd reached a dead-end, where he needed to communicate so many different things to Marik, but just couldn't find the words to do it. The feeling of urgency was increasing, however, and he didn't think he could last much longer without doing _something_, whatever that something might be.

Things finally came to a head just after they'd been out sledding one afternoon. Marik had never been sledding before, and when he found out that Ryou had a sled big enough for two people packed away, he'd insisted on digging it out and going. They'd gone to the biggest hill in Domino and spent hours zooming down the slope, with Ryou clinging to Marik much like he did when they were riding his motorcycle.

Marik was still jabbering excitedly when they came home. "That was so much fun! We need to do it again before the snow melts."

"Okay," Ryou replied. He smiled, his friend's enthusiasm wearing off on him a bit. "Maybe we could ask the others to come next time." He put his snowboots under where he'd hung his jacket.

"Yeah," Marik agreed. He picked the sled back up. "We should put this in my room," he said, starting to carry it in that direction.

Ryou quickly moved to help him, and they soon had the sled stowed away at the side of Marik's bedroom. Ryou sat down on the bed and rubbed his face. He got cold very easily, and rushing down a hill through the freezing winter air had drained almost all heat from the exposed parts of his face. He continued to press his hands to the cold skin of his face, but they weren't all that much warmer for all that they'd been covered by his gloves.

Ryou sighed. He fell backward so that he was lying on the bed.

Marik quickly joined him, laying himself practically on top of Ryou. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Ryou smiled. "Nothing's wrong," he said. "My face is just a little cold."

"Your face does look cold," Marik agreed. He rubbed one of Ryou's cheeks with his hand. "Wow, that _is_ cold," he said, bringing his other hand up to rub Ryou's face as well. "Helping any?"

Ryou relaxed into the warm touch_._ "A little," he said. His face was already starting to feel warmer, though he wasn't sure whether the temperature of Marik's hands were really the root cause of that.

"Good," Marik said, gently running his fingers over Ryou's jaw. He smiled down at Ryou.

Ryou smiled back at him for a moment, then started to feel a small flutter in his stomach. His expression became a little more serious, and he took Marik's face in his hands, meeting his eyes.

Marik looked back at him for a moment, then half-winced as though starting to get one of his headaches. "I think he-"

_No. Not this time, _Ryou decided. He pulled Marik's head down and pressed their lips together, muffling the familiar phrase about to come out of Marik's mouth. Ryou closed his eyes, taking a moment to enjoy the soft feeling of Marik's lips against his. _This might be the only time I ever get to do this with him, _Ryou thought.

Ryou felt Marik gasp against his mouth and was tempted to deepen the kiss further, but he realized that the kiss in and of itself was already likely a huge shock for Marik, and adding even more to that shock probably wasn't the best idea. Ryou closed his mouth and pulled away, his lips sliding over Marik's bottom lip.

He waited a beat before opening his eyes to face the music.

Marik was staring at him in a complete daze. "Did... did you just kiss me?" he asked. He didn't sound angry; his tone was confused and disbelieving, as though he thought he might have hallucinated it.

Ryou swallowed. "Um. Yes. Yes, I did," he said, watching Marik's face very carefully.

It didn't take much to see that it wasn't the response Marik was expecting. "Oh," he replied. He frowned. "Why? Was it a..." Marik cringed horribly, as though in unbearable agony. "...a joke?" he asked through gritted teeth. He gripped the side of his face as though he feared his head would explode.

_Maybe I wasn't so wrong to fear how his dark side would react!_ Ryou thought frantically, wondering if lying and saying it _had_ been a joke would help. But he found that he couldn't do it. He didn't _want_ to lie about what he'd just done. "No," he declared, "It wasn't." He tensed in anticipation.

Relief filled Marik's face. "Ah," he said, thought whether it was in response to what Ryou had said or the sudden disappearance of his headache, Ryou couldn't tell. Marik sat up, but didn't move off of Ryou's body. "Why, then?" he asked, sounding bewildered.

Ryou sat up, taking care to avoid knocking Marik out of his lap accidentally. _If he still wants to sit there, I'm not going to stop him,_ Ryou thought, feeling relief that Marik wasn't leaning away from him or anything. It felt like a good sign. "Well," he began, having no idea how to explain something he'd assumed would be obvious. "I... er... wanted to," he said. "I like you," he added, feeling a little ridiculous afterwards.

"I'm not a girl," Marik replied, a small hint of indignation in his voice.

"I know," Ryou assured him.

Marik paused. "You're not a girl," he said.

"No..." Ryou replied. _Is this just an entirely new concept for him?_ Ryou wondered uncertainly.

"We're both guys," Marik said, as though he wanted to make sure they were both completely clear on this point.

"Yes," Ryou reply. He continued before Marik could respond. "I won't do it again if you don't want me to," he said.

"What?" Marik said, looking like that was the last thing he wanted to hear. "No! I-" Marik cut off abruptly, freezing where he sat. His eyes were blank, and the in-and-out of his breathing was his only visible movement.

"Er. Marik?" Ryou asked, tentatively placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. He waved his other hand in front of Marik's face.

Marik didn't even blink.

_What should I do?_ Ryou wondered, hoping he hadn't triggered something in Marik that he couldn't recover from. _He's gotten like this before,_ Ryou reminded himself. _And he's always come out of it after a few minutes._ Ryou's heart sank a little as he realized that Marik rarely remembered anything that led up to him going blank. "Please don't forget this time," Ryou said quietly, though he knew Marik didn't have any control over such things even if he could hear what Ryou was saying.

Ryou took Marik's hand, then simply watched his friend's face.

Nothing happened at first. Then Marik's whole body rippled unnaturally, as though being distorted by an otherworldly force. Sparks of purple electricity leapt off of his body.

Ryou backed away as much as he could with Marik still in his lap, letting go of his hand. Ryou was unsure what effects attempting to move Marik would have and felt unwilling to risk it. He wondered for a moment if the purple electricity could shock him, but the few sparks that reached him only left a slight tingle on his skin.

There were only a few sparks at first, but they starting coming faster and faster, the arcs growing larger and larger as the seconds passed. They moved up and down Marik's body, from his head to his toes, before finally gathering in a faint ball behind his back. Marik groaned softly, falling forward into Ryou's arms.

The ball grew brighter, and Ryou thought he could see a trail of purple energy pouring into Marik's back from an invisible point in the distance. He tried to focus on the source of the energy, but it always seemed to be just on the periphery of his vision, no matter where in the room he looked.

Suddenly, Ryou heard a familiar angry growl from somewhere in the distance. He instinctively looked at Marik to see if he'd transformed, though he knew the sound had been too far away for Marik's dark side to be sitting in his lap just then. _Not to mention how much heavier he'd be._

There was another growl, and the river of purple energy faltered, slowing, stopping, and then reversing, as though someone was trying to pull it back to where it came from.

Marik groaned again, clinging to Ryou for dear life. Ryou held his friend close, wishing he knew what was going on.

The purple energy appeared to go through a tug of war, moving back and forth rapidly before finally resuming its original path into Marik's back. Marik relaxed. The trail started to grow fainter, and soon stopped. Marik's back absorbed the ball of energy, and the room quickly returned to normal.

A final growl echoed faintly around the room before being cut off.

Ryou gently tilted Marik away from him, looking him over to see if any damage had been done. "Marik?"

Marik's muscles regained their former strength, and the life returned to Marik's eyes. "I _want_ you to kiss me," Marik said, as though absolutely nothing had happened.

"Huh?" Ryou replied, mind too focused on what had just transpired to take in the words.

"I want..." Marik stopped, looking Ryou in the eyes. "_This_," he said, grabbing Ryou's shoulders and planting a kiss squarely on his lips.

"Mmph!" Ryou replied, eyes going wide in surprise. He buried his hands in Marik's shirt instinctively, but slowly relaxed into the kiss as the shock wore off. _At least I now know how he probably felt when I kissed him out of nowhere,_ Ryou thought sheepishly. He closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Marik's shoulders.

Marik made a pleased sound, then nudged Ryou backward on to the bed.

Neither of them had much experience when it came to kissing, which made things a little sloppy at first. _Should I be doing something with my tongue, here?_ Ryou wondered, but Marik took the decision away from him by sucking gently on his bottom lip. _O-oh..._

They stayed like this until they were both gasping for air, neither of them having mastered the art of breathing while kissing yet. Ryou opened his eyes, wanting to take in Marik's face. Marik was panting slightly, and his cheeks were flushed. He had the same look he always got when he was ready to pounce, but with an added urgency. Marik smiled playfully, then leaned in again.

Ryou stopped him with one hand. "Wait," he said breathlessly, realizing they had things they needed to talk about. "Why are you suddenly... What happened?" he asked.

Marik shrugged. "I don't know," he said, running a hand down Ryou's chest over his shirt. "I just... want to. It feels like I've wanted to for _ages_, though I know that's not true," he added, looking mildly puzzled. He shook his head. "Does it matter?" he asked.

"Um. Maybe," Ryou replied, unsure which of the many reasons it might matter he should start with. He settled on what had just happened. "What do you remember about the last five minutes?"

Marik looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Well, you kissed me. We talked a little, and..." Marik frowned in thought, as though struggling to remember that part. "And then... and then you said you wouldn't do it again if I didn't want you to," he said, sounding a little uncertain about his recollection. "But I _did_ want you to," he added, far more definite about this point, "so I kissed you."

"So, you don't remember the..." Ryou trailed off, not knowing how to describe what had just happened to his friend. _Creepy purple lights? Spontaneous connection to the Shadow Realm?_ "You don't remember freezing up?"

Marik blinked at him. "Freezing up?"

Ryou explained what had happened as best as he could.

Marik looked unnerved afterward. "You only heard him, right? He didn't actually come out."

Ryou nodded. "Do you have any idea what was going on?" he asked, though from the look on Marik's face he was as clueless as Ryou was.

Marik shook his head. "No idea," he said. He paused. "Maybe he was trying to prevent us from kissing again, but couldn't take over successfully."

"Do you think he doesn't want us kissing?" Ryou asked carefully. He'd agonized over the possibility himself for some time now, but all the same hoped it wasn't true. After finally kissing Marik and being kissed back in return, not being able to do it again for fear of waking Marik's dark side was a truly horrible prospect.

"He would want to stop anything that makes me this happy," Marik replied. "It sounds like he was too weak to succeed this time, though," he added, sounding encouraged by the fact.

Ryou felt the same way. The nervousness caused by the near-appearance of Marik's dark side subsided, leaving only the warm feelings caused by the kiss behind it. "S-so. This makes you happy?" Ryou asked, cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment and delight simultaneously.

Marik beamed at him. "Of course," he said, lowering his head to kiss Ryou again.

Ryou was ready for him this time. He closed his eyes, reaching up to bury his hands in Marik's hair. He moved his lips slowly and deliberately – which at first was completely at odds with Marik's overly enthusiastic approach to kissing. He pulled away briefly after Marik's lips accidentally brushed his chin. "Er. Y-you're going a little... um... fast," Ryou said nervously, not feeling he was strictly speaking qualified to make comments about other people's kissing abilities.

Marik snickered. "Sorry," he said, pressing their lips together again. He slowed down a little, while Ryou sped up, and they soon matched each other perfectly.

The warm, comfortable feeling inside Ryou took a turn towards hot and bothered. Marik's body was pressed right up against him, and Ryou knew that it would only take a small movement of his hands to grind their bodies together. Temptation flooded through him, making it almost unbearable.

But he was able to resist in the end. _We still haven't really **talked**,_ Ryou thought. _I shouldn't go any further until I know more about how he sees the situation._ Ryou let the kiss linger a little longer, then drew both of them up into a sitting position. "So," he began. He cleared his throat. "H-have you wanted to do that long, or..."

Marik looked somewhat reluctant to stop what they were doing. "I don't know," he said, idly scratching the side of his face. "Like I said, it feels like I've wanted to for a long time, but I don't think I ever actually thought about it until you did it."

_Did I accidentally release his feelings from wherever they'd been hiding? Is that what was going on with the purple light?_ Ryou wondered. "You really never thought about it?" he asked. "What were you thinking about when you... er... studied my anatomy?"

Marik suddenly looked like he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. "Um. You mean, you don't think I was thinking about anatomy?" he asked, as though he'd been quite certain he'd had Ryou fooled.

Ryou just stared at him. "Er. No," he said, feeling a little indignant that Marik thought he would really be tricked by something so obvious. Despite the fact that everyone else they knew apparently took it at face value. "And I never thought you were clumsy enough to accidentally drench me with water more than a dozen times in one week..."

"Then why did you keep leaving buckets of water lying around?" Marik asked with a snicker.

"Um." Ryou had forgotten that much of his behavior had been as ridiculous as Marik's, in its own way. "I wanted to be absolutely certain you were doing it on purpose," he said, deciding that the real reason, the one that involved testing Marik's dark side, didn't need to be brought up just then. "But if you weren't thinking about kissing me..."

Marik interrupted him. "I really don't remember ever thinking about that," he said. "I just... felt good touching you. And seeing you get wet," he added, squirming a little. "But I knew you'd be weirded out if I suddenly did stuff like _this,_" Marik slipped his hand under Ryou's shirt and caressed his chest, "without a good explanation."

_You did that without a good explanation plenty of times!_ Ryou thought, but refrained from saying. "But why did you think you- a-ah-" Marik started playing with one of Ryou's nipples, and Ryou lost the rest of what he'd been intending to say. Ryou caught Marik's hand and pressed it firmly against his chest. "I can't, ah, talk while you're distracting me," he said.

"Sorry," Marik replied, though the smile on his face – which was very nearly a smirk – said that he wasn't, really.

Ryou's mind flashed to the things he'd been told about Marik's old personality, and he thought he was finally starting to see the connection between his Marik and the scheming, manipulative Marik of the past. _I guess that stuff's still there, it's just not nearly as strong._ He rubbed Marik's hand. "A-anyway. Why did you think you kept wanting to touch me?" he asked.

Marik shrugged. "I knew I liked the look on your face," he said, looking at Ryou's face in a way that said he was seeing that same look there at that very moment. "I did start to think it was a little weird, sometimes, and wonder if I should stop, but..." He held up a hand in a helpless gesture. "I don't know. It was confusing. Sometimes I felt like..." He stopped, looking troubled.

"Like what?" Ryou asked, clasping Marik's hand in his.

Marik's expression turned guilty, and for a moment it seemed like he wasn't going to respond, but after short period of silence, he averted his gaze and gave his answer. "Like _you_ were doing something to me. Like it was your fault I felt so frustrated all the time."

Ryou had thought similar things about Marik, though he thought he probably had a greater basis for blaming Marik for driving him nuts than the other way around. He could still sympathize, however. "Wait... were you angry at me?" Ryou asked, having a sudden thought.

Marik shook his head so hard it looked like it might fall off. "No! I never get angry at you," he said vehemently.

_**You** might not, but **he** gets angry whenever you don't,_ Ryou thought, feeling like he'd found another piece to the puzzle. "S-so. What do you think about touching me now?" he asked, blushing when he realized that might be interpreted as an offer. "Wait, I-"

"I think that's a great idea!" Marik said, the familiar energy back in his voice. There was an added glint of mischief in his eyes as he freed his hands from Ryou's grip and slid them back under his shirt. "How does this feel?" he asked, teasing Ryou's chest with all the skill he'd acquired over the past few months.

Ryou tried and failed not to be affected. "Th-that's not what I... ah-!" He bit his lip, grabbing onto Marik's shoulders to steady himself. "I... oh..." Ryou let out a soft moan. Ryou's hands slid down and around to Marik's back before he even realized what he was doing. He caught sight of Marik's face, flushed and full of hazy pleasure, and immediately lost it, his hips jerking up and grinding against Marik's body.

The sudden look of surprise on Marik's face was the only thing that kept him from continuing. He let go of Marik, gripping the blanket they were sitting on to help control himself. "S-sorry," he said. _This is why we need to talk about this first..._

"No, it's okay," Marik said, tracing his hands down Ryou's chest to his stomach. "I just wasn't expecting it." His eyes wandered below Ryou's stomach for the first time Ryou could ever remember, and he even slid off of Ryou onto the bed to get a closer look. His fingers danced over the waistband of Ryou's jeans. "So, _I_ caused that?" he asked, as though he still had trouble believing it.

"Y-yeah," Ryou replied, feeling a little unnerved by the scrutiny. "Didn't you know that before?" he asked. He'd always wondered why Marik had never seemed to notice even when the evidence was pressed right up against him.

"I never really thought about it," Marik said, fingers brushing lightly over the denim. "I mean, that can happen randomly. It's not like I'm a girl, so..."

"Oh." Ryou struggled to pay attention to what Marik was saying, when the eventual destination of his hand seemed so much more interesting. _Never mind that,_ he scolded himself. _What was he saying? Right, I suppose it does happen randomly, too. If the only two conceivable options in his mind were 'random' and 'caused by girls', I guess it makes sense that he wouldn't think anything of it, not even if I was having the same effect on him..._

Marik's hand dipped a little lower for a second, then pulled away. "You don't think that it's weird?" he asked. "You know, that we're both guys?"

"I don't," Ryou said firmly. "Less common, maybe, but not weird."

Marik blinked. "Less common?" he asked. "You mean, there are other guys who...?"

"Plenty of other guys," Ryou said. He frowned. "I know you've heard of that before." Ryou recalled his fruitless attempts to get a read on Marik's opinion on the subject. "You've seen it in movies, remember?"

"I thought that was a joke," Marik said, crossing his arms. "Nobody acts that way in real life."

Ryou thought of how such characters usually acted in movies, especially comedies. "Er. I suppose you're right about that," he replied. "But we wouldn't be the only two to ever have this kind of relationship." He paused. "You really didn't know?"

Marik shook his head. "I'd never heard of anything like that at all before today," he said, sounding like he still found the idea somewhat bizarre.

Ryou thought back through what he knew of Marik's history, trying to find a place where he might have heard of it before. _Obviously, his time with the tombkeepers is out,_ Ryou thought. _And he spent most of the time between then and coming to Domino still in Egypt. _Ryou didn't recall seeing any male couples of that kind while he was in Egypt, but he realized that unless they kissed in public, there'd be no way of really knowing, especially given how common it was for men to wander around holding hands without any connotation of anything else.

_Didn't Ishizu say she only found out because of a vision the necklace gave her?_ Ryou recalled. _And while Marik could have found out sometime once he was here, it's not like we know any couples that would have triggered the realization..._

Ryou was startled out of his revery by a hand running up his leg. He glanced down to see Marik staring at the bulge in his jeans. "Do you have to look at that so... er... intently?" he asked. _I don't stare at you that way. Or, not much, at least._

"Sorry," Marik replied, looking up at Ryou's face. "I never paid much attention to it before, but now it's like I can't think about anything else," he said, hand wandering slowly up Ryou's thigh.

_I may have opened the floodgates on this one,_ Ryou thought, though he found he wasn't especially upset about it. _It might take him a while to adjust, but surely this is better than being completely cut off from his feelings?_

There was a knock on the door, and Marik immediately pulled his hand away from Ryou's leg. Odion opened the door and poked his head inside the room. "Dinner is ready," he said. From the look on his face, he didn't see anything strange about Ryou and Marik sitting disheveled on a bed together in the middle of the day, but Ryou supposed they'd exposed him to the sight too often for it to mean anything.

_I'm not sure he'd show any reaction even he did see something in it, _Ryou thought.

"We'll be out in a minute," Marik said.

Odion nodded, closing the door behind him.

Marik turned to Ryou and gave him a mischievous smile. "Just one more before dinner," he said, leaning over to give Ryou another kiss.

Ryou returned it eagerly, though he knew they couldn't stay like that for too long. He pulled away, sighing happily. "Dinner?" he asked.

"Dinner," Marik agreed, grabbing Ryou's hand and pulling him off the bed. "And then more kissing," he added, as though it were the only possible thing they could do.

_There are worse ways we could spend our time,_ Ryou thought. He couldn't help but smile as Marik dragged him out to eat dinner.

He hadn't felt that happy in a very long time.


	19. The Other Side Of The Problem

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 19) – The Other Side Of The Problem**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou and Marik did spend most of the evening kissing and talking on Marik's bed, stopping only when it grew late. They slept through the night much as they did normally – though both were far more content than they'd ever been before.

Marik was all over Ryou the moment he awoke, but Ryou could find too much fault with him. Especially since Marik was offering Ryou the opportunity to do something he hadn't done nearly enough of in the past: touching Marik's bare body. Certainly, Ryou had already done that well beyond the point of what could be considered normal between friends, but he hadn't done it to Marik anywhere _near_ the amount that Marik had done it to him, and he was eager to even things up.

Naturally, Marik had a far easier time throwing off his shirt for more physical contact than Ryou did, despite the fact that Ryou had more experience with being... well, _felt up_ by Marik. It was one of those things that made him wonder about the exact nature of Marik's ignorance. _Why would he have an easier time with this than I do, if he only learned about this sort of thing yesterday?_ Ryou wondered, though he wasn't sure if it was a real concern or just a small amount of envy at Marik's ability to enjoy the situation without blushing the way he did.

"Did... did you ever think about me doing things like this?" Ryou asked as he rubbed a hand over Marik's bare shoulder.

Marik leaned into the touch. "Yeah. A lot, actually," he said, giving Ryou a lazy smile. "Especially after the time when we were..." Marik took Ryou's hand and lowered it, pressing over one nipple.

"O-oh," Ryou replied, grateful that he couldn't possibly get any redder than he already was. He definitely remembered the event Marik was talking about, as well as the teasing in the days that had followed. Ryou rubbed a thumb over the sensitive area. "Why did you think you wanted that if you didn't know about...?"

Marik sucked in a breath at Ryou's touch. "Um. Sorry, what were you...? Oh, right," he said, sounding like he was struggling to focus on the conversation. Ryou smiled, feeling a little like he was finally getting payback for all the times Marik had rendered him unable to converse normally. "Er. I thought it was kind of weird that I wanted you to do something like that," he told Ryou, "but it felt really good. I was too focused on trying to figure out a way to get you to do that to me to really think much about why I wanted it."

Ryou paused the movement of his hand. "Wait, you were trying to get me to do this to you?" he asked. He thought back over Marik's behavior the past few months, but nothing really came to mind aside from that first time.

Marik gave Ryou an urgent look, pressing Ryou's hand down against his chest once again. "Um. Yeah," he replied, clearly far more interested in what Ryou had stopped doing than what they were talking about. "I mean, the only thing I could think of was getting you to take anatomy with me, but you kept refusing, so..."

Ryou started his caress again. Marik's responding sigh of pleasure almost made him forget the topic of conversation. _I still wish I knew more about what he was __**thinking**__ that whole time,_ Ryou thought. _But it's like he wasn't even very aware of it himself._ Ryou had asked Marik similar questions the previous evening and had gotten similar responses. When it came to most things – wanting to touch Ryou, wanting to see him with his shirt off – Marik tended to say that he'd thought they were a little strange, but just plain hadn't bothered to give them much thought.

However, when it came to a few select other issues – namely, wanting _kiss_ Ryou or touch him in places even Marik apparently couldn't gloss over – he claimed he couldn't remember thinking about them at all, but also somewhat confusedly claimed to feel like he'd _wanted_ them for far longer than he could remember.

Ryou believed him. As far as Ryou could tell, Marik had no reason to lie about what he'd thought about those things, especially if he was only going to admit to wanting them immediately afterward. _Besides, I've already said that I was thinking about kissing him. Not to mention the fact that we've __**actually kissed**__._

No, Ryou was convinced that the part of Marik that wanted to kiss him had been blocked off or suppressed. He was becoming more and more certain that the purple light had been part of Marik's soul being released back to where it was supposed to be. _It would explain why the __**feelings**__ seem like they've existed for a long time, but he doesn't remember thinking about them. They were there, he just didn't have full access to them._

Ryou brought his hands up over Marik's shoulders, hesitating a little when he got to Marik's back. "Are you okay with me...?"

Marik blinked at him. "Huh?" he replied. "Oh. Touching my back, you mean? Yeah, go ahead." He smiled encouragingly.

Ryou nodded, shifting around so that he could get a better look. He brought his hands down lightly on Marik's back, tracing his fingers over the scars. He could feel the way they sunk into Marik's back relative to the undamaged, healthy skin. He wondered for a moment why the scars were so dark compared to Marik's skin in general. From a distance they'd look more like tattoos. "Does it hurt?" he asked quietly.

Marik shook his head. "Not normally," he said. "And never from being touched."

Ryou rubbed Marik's back a few more times, then hugged him from behind, pressing his bare chest against Marik's back.

Marik made a pleased sound, leaning back into the embrace. He rubbed the arms wrapped around his waist, then sighed. "I guess we probably have to go to breakfast at some point, right?"

"Yes," Ryou agreed, with a similar tone in his voice. "I, uh, want to shower first," he added, knowing that he would need to take care of himself before doing anything else – if he wanted to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment, anyway. However enthusiastic Marik was, it hadn't even been a day since he had figured out the true nature of their feelings for each other; Ryou was wary of pushing him too far, too fast.

"You showered before we went to bed yesterday, remember?" Marik said.

"Y-yeah," Ryou replied, feeling another blush coming on. "But I... um... need another one."

Marik pulled out of the embrace, turning to face Ryou. He pressed his nose to Ryou's neck and sniffed. "You smell fine to me."

"Th-that's not..." Ryou began. His face felt like it was on fire. _This is silly,_ he tried to tell himself. _Given... what we are, now, he probably wouldn't even care about what I intend to do, even if it is in reaction to him._ All the same, Ryou's sense of propriety made it difficult for him to simply say it. "What I really mean is... I j-just need to... er..." Ryou glanced down at his lap.

"Need to...?" Marik's eyes followed Ryou's downward. He stared at Ryou's lap for an uncomfortably long time before his face lit up with understanding. "Oh," he said, an amused smile – nearly a smirk – filling his face. "So every time you've been going off to take a shower, you've been-"

"Not _every_ time," Ryou was quick to correct him.

But Marik's mind was already running with the idea. "Hey, and come to think of it, you used to go off and take naps all the time. Was that-"

"I-Is it really that important?" Ryou asked, feeling somewhat desperate to change the topic. "Don't you, um...?"

Marik shook his head. "No," he said. "I mean, I did it a few times, but I didn't like the way it made me black out, so I stopped."

That got Ryou's full attention. He looked at Marik's face in puzzlement. "You used to black out whenever you'd... do that?"

Marik nodded. "I'd remember starting, but nothing after that. I'd just... suddenly be sitting there, a complete mess."

_It sounds like he didn't even get to be there for the best part,_ Ryou thought. "Was this before or after the Pharaoh sent _him_ to the Shadow Realm?" he asked.

"After," Marik replied, sounding surprised at the question. "It wasn't something I would have thought to do before then." He held up his hands. "I'm not even sure what made me try it that first time. Probably curiosity, I guess."

Ryou wondered if Marik would still black out now that the related part of him seemed to have become accessible. _I certainly hope not,_ Ryou thought. _Wait, this is probably something we should be sure of before we start doing things like that together. _Ryou found the idea of Marik blacking out in response to something he'd done horrifying. _What if we hadn't had this conversation, and he __**did**__ black__ out __when-!_

"Maybe you should try it again," Ryou blurted out, then immediately covered his mouth. _I should really have led up to that better, _he thought, cringing slightly.

Marik looked at him curiously. "Why?" he asked.

"We should know if you still black out when... well..." Ryou trailed off.

"Oh," Marik replied, appearing to think it over. "You have a point." He looked down at his own lap. "No reason not to do it while you're in the shower," he said, lying back against his pillow.

Ryou got up, heading for the door, but stopped just before leaving. "Er..." Ryou wasn't entirely sure his question was appropriate, but he felt the need to ask it anyway. "If you haven't been doing that, how have you been dealing with..." Ryou struggled to find the right words, given that Marik hadn't even really been aware of his _feelings_, as such. "With the physical reaction to...?"

"That?" Marik replied. "Um. I didn't do anything, really. " He shrugged. "I just lived with it."

_No wonder his dark side was going crazy,_ Ryou thought warily. _At least that shouldn't be a problem now that Marik has control of that aspect of himself._

"I'll be back in a little while," Ryou said. He picked up the clothes he'd laid out for the day and left the room.

* * *

After a quick shower, Ryou stood in front the door to Marik's room. He didn't want to walk in on Marik at the wrong moment, and he didn't really want to potentially interrupt anything with a knock, either. _He's had enough time, right? I mean, I had enough time to shower, and..._

The door opened, revealing a fully-clothed Marik behind it. "Thought I heard you out here," he said.

Ryou coughed. "So. Were you... um...?"

Marik smiled. "I was fine," he said. "So, you don't need to worry."

"Good." Ryou felt even more relieved than he'd been expecting. _As long as I don't have to worry about making him black out,_ he thought. He was also glad to have what seemed like extra confirmation of his theory about Marik regaining a part of himself.

"Let's go to breakfast," Marik said.

"Okay," Ryou said, setting his pajamas on the dresser.

Marik took his hand and led him to the kitchen.

* * *

Breakfast was almost the same as it always was. Ishizu was the first to finish, needing to get to the museum to set up for a special winter solstice event. They hadn't actively told Ishizu anything, but Ryou had been certain that she'd already known they'd talked by dinner the previous evening.

He had absolutely no idea what Odion thought, or what he did or didn't know. The man hadn't given any indication that he knew something had changed, but Ryou wasn't even sure that he would give any sign even if he _had_ figured it out.

Ryou and Marik made their way to the game shop right after breakfast. Joey was leaving town to visit his mother and sister that afternoon, so they wanted to spend some time with him before having to say goodbye for a few weeks.

Ryou didn't realize until they arrived that he hadn't actually talked with Marik about how (or when, or even whether) they were going to tell the others about the change in their relationship. _I'd rather he didn't just... declare it out of nowhere,_ Ryou thought. _Or reveal it by kissing me._ He looked at their linked hands somewhat nervously, but didn't let go. _We held hands even when we were just friends. It might actually look odder if I pull away suddenly._

But the visit went off much as planned. Marik didn't do anything unusual in front of the others – in fact, he completely refrained from any kind of 'anatomy studies' or other highly dubious behavior. _Maybe he doesn't consider doing those things appropriate in front of others, now that he's acknowledged what they really are,_ Ryou speculated. _He has no problem holding my hand in front of them, so I doubt he's actually trying to hide anything._

They played several different games, both Duel Monsters and non-Duel Monsters, and the day seemed to fly by. They walked Joey out of the game shop late in the afternoon, into the bright glare of the fake sun.

"It's weird to see that thing in the sky at this time of day," Yugi said. "It's four o'clock on the winter solstice, but it looks more like noon in the middle of summer."

"I'll be glad to be away from that thing for a little while," Joey agreed. He slung his bag over his shoulder, turning in the direction of the train station. "See ya in a few weeks, guys," he said, giving a goodbye wave. "And when the new semester starts, you can bring me to campus and I'll help you pick up some girls."

Ryou closed his eyes, already able to sense what was coming, yet not seeing any real way of stopping it.

"I don't need any girls," Marik replied. "I'm doing fine with just him." He pulled Ryou's hand up to his mouth and kissed it.

Ryou opened his eyes and gave Marik a small smile, then chanced a glance at the others. Yugi was standing there blinking, while Joey's mouth was open in surprise.

"Are you, um, kidding there, Marik?" Joey asked, sounding slightly nervous.

"No," Marik said, hugging Ryou's arm.

"Oh," Joey replied, looking like he had no idea what to do with the information he'd just received. He glanced from Marik to Ryou and then back again, then simply stared at their twined arms.

"Don't you have a train to catch, Joey?" Yugi asked, breaking the silence.

"What?" Joey replied. "Oh, right! See ya in a few weeks," he said, running off without looking back.

"Don't worry about him," Yugi said. "He's just surprised."

"Are you surprised?" Ryou asked.

"Um." Yugi opened his mouth, then closed it again. He seemed to think about it for a moment, then shook his head. "No. It makes a lot of sense, actually." He looked at his watch, then turned to go in the direction opposite where Joey had headed. "I have to get to the museum," he said. "I'll see you guys later," he added, giving them a cheerful wave before walking away.

_I suppose that went better than it could have,_ Ryou reflected as he and Marik braved the cold walk home. _Yugi doesn't seem to care, and Joey has a few weeks to get used to the idea._ Joey could get worked up sometimes, but he rarely stayed unreasonably upset about anything for very long. _Hopefully he isn't even upset, _Ryou thought. _He's just surprised, like Yugi said._

His spirits now lifted, Ryou found the walk home to be not very long at all.

* * *

Ryou followed Marik into the house, nearly stepping right on top of the mail as he entered. He picked it up, not wanting it to be left on the floor. He sorted through them as he toed off his shoes, pushing them neatly to the side with his feet. _Ishizu, Ishizu, Ishizu... I guess it makes sense that she'd get the most mail. Hey, what's this one?_ Ryou set Ishizu's mail on the small table near the door, puzzling over the strange writing on the final envelope.

The Domino City address had been written in English, albeit by someone who clearly wasn't used to writing the letters of the Roman alphabet. The name above the address, however, was written in a language Ryou had never seen before, and the sender's name and address seemed to be written in this language as well. _It's not Arabic, not hieroglyphs..._

"Anything for me?" Marik asked.

"I don't know," Ryou replied. He gave the envelope to Marik without thinking about it. "I can't read the name," he said.

"It's for Odion," Marik replied. "That's a form of writing we use," he added, his speech slowing a little. "It's from... a tombkeeper fam... family..." he struggled to get the words out, clutching his head. "R-run..." he said weakly.

Ryou was torn. He was tempted to offer his arm up to be bitten, but he couldn't see it working this time. _He doesn't want to kiss me this time, he wants to destroy the tombkeepers. _Ryou stood where he was for a long moment, wanting to run, but fearing that if he did that Marik's dark side would run off again, this time never to be found. He wavered, finally deciding to run to the kitchen in the hopes that Odion was there.

Luckily, Odion was, in fact, in the kitchen beginning dinner. He dropped his knife on the counter as soon as he saw Ryou. "What's wrong? Is it Marik?"

"His dark side," Ryou said, running back out to the living room. Odion followed right on his heels.

Not-Marik had emerged by the time they rounded the Christmas tree, and he'd already ripped the envelope to shreds. Bits of paper were scattered all over the floor, and not-Marik spat a few more out of his mouth, then growled.

Ryou looked frantically from Marik's dark side to Odion and back. _Why isn't he disappearing?_

Odion pushed Ryou back a little, standing in front of him. "What do you want?" he asked. The normally calm voice had a sharp edge.

An angry grin split not-Marik's face. "Freedom," he snarled. His body was already compacting.

Odion rushed to catch Marik as he fell. "What brought him out this time?" he asked.

"The letter," Ryou replied, gesturing at the scraps of paper all over the floor. "It was addressed in tombkeeper writing. Marik said it was for you."

Odion's eyes widened almost imperceptibly before returning to their normal size. Ryou thought he could almost see a hint of disappointment in Odion's face, but he was as difficult to read as ever. "I will take him to his room," Odion replied. He picked Marik up and did as he'd said he would.

Ryou was about to follow him, but decided to pick up the scattered pieces of the letter instead. _Maybe it could be taped back together and read that way._ Once he had what he believed to be all of the pieces, he brought them with him to Marik's room.

Odion had just set Marik on the bed. He turned to Ryou, who held the pile of scraps out to him. "I think that's all of it. I don't know if it could be put back together, but..."

Odion nodded. "Thank you," he said, taking the scraps from Ryou's hands. "Look after Marik," he added, leaving the room more quickly than Ryou would have expected.

Ryou sat down next to Marik on the bed. He brushed his friend's hair out of his face, then unfolded a small blanket over him to make him more comfortable.

Ryou looked at his friend's face and sighed. _We haven't truly beaten him yet,_ he thought, bringing a hand up to rub Marik's cheek. _But we will. Whatever we have to do._


	20. RubADubDub

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 20) – Rub-A-Dub-Dub**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

Ryou sat down on the bed next to Marik, wondering how long it would take for his friend to wake up. _His dark side couldn't have been in control for more than a few minutes, _Ryou thought. _Hopefully, he won't be unconscious for long..._

Ryou remained at Marik's side, and sure enough, the life returned to Marik's face in not more than a couple of minutes. "Hmm?" he said, blinking his eyes open in confusion. He sat up, took one look at Ryou's face, and then closed his eyes again. "_Him_?" he asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

"_Him_," Ryou agreed quietly, taking Marik's hand and squeezing it comfortingly.

Marik sighed, opening his eyes to look at Ryou. "What did he do this time?" he asked, taking in Ryou's undamaged state with obvious relief.

"Do you remember the letter?" Ryou asked, wanting to get a read on how much he would need to explain.

Marik looked slightly puzzled for a moment. His eyes shifted to the side as he tried to remember. "Letter..." he said, as though he was familiar with the word, but couldn't quite place the significance. "Letter... You mean... Oh, right!" he said, recognition filling his face. "The letter from-" he stopped for a moment, speaking more slowly when he eventually continued. "...from back home. He destroyed it, I'm guessing."

Ryou nodded. "Completely ripped it up," he replied. "I cleaned up all the pieces and gave them to Odion. Maybe he'll be able to put them back together," he said, with more optimism than he was really feeling.

Marik gave him a smile that said he appreciated what Ryou was trying to do, but didn't buy it. "I doubt it. Whatever it is, he'll probably have to ask them to resend it," he said. There was a hint of guilt in his voice, but on the whole, he seemed less than unhappy about it.

"Who sent him the letter?" Ryou asked. Normally he wouldn't have considered who Odion was exchanging letters with any of his business, but anything that caused Marik's dark side to emerge had his full attention. _It might have only been because of the language it was written in, _he thought, _but I should make sure of that before automatically discounting it._

"A tombkeeper family," Marik replied. He didn't sound inclined to elaborate.

Ryou needed to know more. "One you know well?" he asked.

Marik shrugged. "I don't really know any of them _that_ well," he said. "My father kept us away from everyone, including the other families."

Ryou frowned. He hadn't talked with Marik about the tombkeepers much, and he'd never given much thought to how other tombkeeper families lived, but questions were starting to form in his mind. "Wasn't that normal?" he asked.

"Not really," Marik replied, looking a little uncomfortable. "I mean, not having contact with the outside world is standard, but most families have plenty of contact with each other. My father was a little stricter than average..."

_That feels like an understatement,_ Ryou thought. In the few times they'd talked about Marik's father, Marik had never outright called his father abusive. Ryou had hoped that he was simply reluctant to go into it given the way things had ended, but there had always been the unpleasant possibility that he didn't think his father had done anything wrong. _But that's not what we're talking about right now,_ he thought, forcing himself to focus. "Does Odion know them well?"

"Not that I know of," Marik said. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, maybe. My father sometimes used him as a messenger to other families. But not that often."

"Any idea why they might be writing to Odion?" Ryou asked.

"Um..._"_ Marik's brow furrowed in thought. "I guess there's..." Marik trailed off, his eyes going blank.

_Not again..._ Ryou waved his hand in front of Marik's face, then gently shook his shoulder. "Marik."

Marik blinked. "Sorry. What was I saying?" He frowned. "Oh, right. It was from a tombkeeper family."

"That's not..." Ryou began, but then stopped himself. _He'll probably just go blank again if I repeat the question. He was able to think of a reason, though, so I should try to figure out what that reason was, especially if it was enough to make him go blank._ "Er, what are they like?"

"Well, the father was my mother's cousin," Marik replied, visibly straining to remember what he could. "His wife died in childbirth, too, with their... _fifth_ daughter, I think."

"Five daughters?" Ryou repeated. He had an inkling of an idea, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

Marik nodded. "Five daughters, no sons. He was already having trouble finding-" Marik shook his head from side to side, then rubbed his throat, as though the words had gotten physically caught in his throat somehow. He seemed to undergo an intense mental struggle before finally spitting out the words. "-finding them husbands!" he exclaimed, then let out a breath. "Phew! It was like I couldn't even talk for a moment," he added, looking slightly unnerved.

"Are you all right?" Ryou asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Marik replied. "That was _weird_."

_At least you remained aware this time,_ Ryou thought. He hesitated before answering, wondering whether pressing further would make Marik go blank again. _That already seemed close, but he **was** able to go on in the end._ "So. Um. He'd be the one to find them husbands, then?"

"Yeah," Marik replied. "Marriages are arranged by the father. It's really important."

_I remember Ishizu saying something about arranged marriages, _Ryou thought. A sinking feeling came over him as he took in Marik's other words. "Do all tombkeepers have to get married?" he asked.

Marik nodded. "Having children and passing the knowledge on is part of being a tombkeeper."

Ryou almost didn't want to say his next question. "What do you intend to do?" he asked quietly.

Marik looked like a deer in headlights. "What?"

"Do you still want to be a tombkeeper?" he asked.

Marik winced, covering his ears as though he'd heard a painful sound. "Ow," he said, shaking his head. "Sorry. What were we talking about again?"

_I think I may have found the problem._ Ryou decided not to say anything, since Marik wasn't anymore likely to remember it this time than he had been any other time. "Nothing," he replied, leaning in to give Marik a hug.

Marik returned the hug eagerly. They stayed that way until Ryou's stomach growled.

Ryou's cheeks turned pink.

"Let's go see if Odion ever finished dinner," Marik said.

* * *

It turned out that Odion hadn't finished dinner, but once he saw that Marik was up and about, he set the ingredients he'd prepared on the stove and had something ready in a short amount of time. Marik did the bulk of the talking during the meal; Ishizu was still at the museum for the winter solstice event, and Odion was unnaturally quiet, even for him.

Ryou and Marik walked back to their room afterwards, but Marik stopped Ryou in the hallway before he could go inside. "Are you going to take another shower tonight?" he asked.

Ryou blushed, thinking Marik was making another comment about his many 'showers'. "N-no. The one this morning was enough," he replied. _I'm not **that** single-minded, _he thought indignantly.

Marik looked a little disappointed. "Oh."

"Why?" Ryou asked. _Maybe he wants the time for himself again?_

"I'm about to take my shower. I was hoping we could shower together," he said.

"A-ah," Ryou replied, his mouth going dry. He swallowed, not quite feeling up to speaking. His body quickly and definitively declared its own support for Marik's plan, and his mind supplied some helpful images as encouragement.

Marik seemed to interpret his silence as refusal. "Maybe another time," he said, turning toward the bathroom.

"Wait!" Ryou caught his arm. "Er. I mean, wait," he repeated, hoping he didn't sound quite so desperate this time. "Um. You can never be too clean, so..."

Marik snickered. "Changed your mind, then?"

Ryou coughed. "It's a good idea," he said.

"Let's go, then." Marik grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bathroom. He locked the door once they were inside, then immediately started throwing his clothes to the floor.

Ryou just stood and watched him for a moment, feeling his whole body grow hot once Marik was entirely naked. He tried not to stare at what had just been revealed to him, but couldn't help it.

"You don't shower in your clothes, do you?" Marik asked, sounding amused.

"Um. No, of course not," Ryou replied. He wrenched his gaze upward to look at Marik's face, seeing a playful, if slightly impatient, expression there. He slipped off his shirt and folded it neatly, setting it down next to the sink.

This was apparently too slow for Marik, who came over and pulled him into a kiss. "I don't think they really need to be folded this time," Marik said breathlessly afterward.

"Huh?" Ryou replied, his distraction slowing his thought process. "Oh, right." He unbuttoned his jeans, sliding both them and his underwear down to the floor, where Marik's clothes already lay.

Marik's eyes automatically drifted downward, but Ryou kissed him again before he could stare for too long. Marik pulled him backward toward the tub, nearly tripping over it in his eagerness to get there without ending the kiss.

Ryou caught him before he could fall and kill himself accidentally. "We should probably be a little more careful," he said sheepishly, stepping deliberately over the side of the tub.

"It'll be okay," Marik replied, switching the shower on. Warm water sprayed down on the two of them. Marik picked up Ryou's shower sponge from the little shelf with his shower things, soaked it through, then dabbed some of Ryou's body wash on it. He fluffed the sponge until it was nice and foamy, then turned on Ryou with an almost predatory gleam in his eye. "Ready?"

Ryou grabbed the shower grip preemptively to prevent himself from falling. "Go ahead," he said. His whole body was tensed in excited anticipation; it felt like he could barely breathe until Marik touched him.

Luckily, Marik didn't wait long at all. He pressed the sponge to Ryou's chest and started gently rubbing it in circles on Ryou's skin. Ryou gasped as the sponge slid over a few sensitive spots, gripping the hand-bar more tightly. "O-oh."

Marik's smile broadened at Ryou's reaction. He slid the sponge over Ryou's stomach, then gestured at him to turn. He rubbed the sponge over Ryou's shoulder. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to this," he said.

"Shower with me? Or... well..." Ryou trailed off, closing his eyes as the sponge trailed down his back. _Other things,_ he thought, assuming that was what Marik meant.

So, he was a little surprised at Marik's reply. "Shower with you," Marik said, sliding the sponge even lower. His other hand followed, gently kneading the soapy skin.

"A-ah," Ryou panted. He grabbed onto the bar with his other hand, certain he would need both hands to keep himself from falling. "Y-you... just... wanted to... shower...? Really?" he asked between breaths.

The sponge glided down the back of Ryou's thigh. "Yeah, just shower," Marik replied. "It made the most sense of anything I wanted to do, though I couldn't figure out why it was so appealing." He soaped Ryou's calves, then stood up again, guiding Ryou under the water. He set the sponge on the shelf, then ran both hands up and down Ryou's back and legs as the suds rinsed off. "I tried to think of something that would convince you to do it, but couldn't come up with anything that didn't seem ridiculous." He patted Ryou's shoulder, then gestured for him to move again.

Ryou turned as instructed, reseting his grip on the bar. _I don't see what could be more ridiculous than the excuses he actually came up with,_ Ryou thought. "What... sort of thing... did you think of?"

Marik ran the sponge over Ryou's feet. "Um. I thought of saying that I needed help showering, but I figured even you would get suspicious at that..."

"H-hey. What do you mean even- oh-" Ryou watched the sponge glide over the inside of his thighs, the feeling making him a little weak in the knees.

"Well, saying I needed help worked for most things," Marik said. He pulled the sponge away, then ran his free hand up Ryou's thigh. "Like when I said I needed help learning to swim."

"W-wait, you mean you... already..." Ryou trailed off, biting his lip. Marik's hand was inching closer and closer to where he so desperately wanted it to be, but still hadn't made contact. _How bad would it be if I just grabbed his hand and-_

But Marik caught his eyes, clearly asking for permission. He beamed at Ryou's frantic nod, which was almost more of a plea than an agreement.

Ryou's legs almost gave out when he felt the sponge touch him. He let out a soft moan, gripping the bar as hard as he could to keep himself upright. _Oh, god._

He nearly doubled over when the sponge was replaced by Marik's hand. "A-ah!"

Marik hesitated. "Good, or...?"

Ryou reached out one hand to grab Marik's shoulder. "Good. Definitely good," he panted. "Please don't stop..."

Marik smiled mischievously. "Okay, I won't." Marik moved his hands slowly and somewhat tentatively over Ryou's flesh, as though he was more interested in exploring Ryou's body than anything else. There was no rhythm at all, only an extremely frustrating physical contact.

Ryou struggled not to whine or beg, but when Marik's hand happened to move up and down in one rapid movement, he couldn't help it any longer. "Ah! L-like that," he said, thrusting forward involuntarily. "P-please."

"Like this?" Marik asked, repeating the motion, then stopping.

"Y-yes," Ryou replied, closing his eyes. "Please..."

Marik immediately started moving his hand up and down, rhythmically this time. Ryou jerked his head back against the wall, gasping for air. _Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god-_ His hips rocked back and forth several times before finally thrusting upward and staying there. "Ohh..."

Every ounce of tension fled Ryou's body, and Ryou let go of the bar, sliding down the shower wall into a heap at the bottom of the tub. The water quickly washed him clean.

Ryou felt a hand rest on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" Marik asked, sounding concerned.

Ryou opened his eyes, smiling slightly stupidly. He couldn't help it. "I'm _great_," he replied, pulling Marik down for a short kiss. Marik returned it almost frantically, reminding Ryou that _his_ body was still very excited about the situation. _I should do something about that._

Ryou reached out one hand to stroke him. Normally, Ryou would have been more shy about doing such a thing, but the pleasant haze he was feeling made him bolder than usual.

Marik exhaled abruptly, grabbing Ryou's shoulders to steady himself. Ryou continued the steady motion of his hands without pausing. "That's... nnn..." Marik trailed off, panting something in his native language as he writhed beneath Ryou's hands. Ryou increased the speed of his strokes, and within moments Marik collapsed on top of him, fingers digging into his skin.

"Wow..." Marik said, noticeably dazed. He wrapped his arms around Ryou in a loose hug. "We definitely have to do that again," he added, resting his head on Ryou's chest as though preparing for a nap.

"Another time," Ryou said, gently pushing Marik's shoulder. "We need to get up now."

"Can't we stay like this for a while?" Marik asked, nuzzling Ryou's neck.

"Er. I'm kind of getting water in my face," Ryou replied. As nice as it was to get clean so quickly, he was starting to long for a bed. _We'd be able to sleep comfortably, and I wouldn't be getting water in my eyes,_ he thought. _Or non-sunlight, for that matter, _he added, blinking at the bright light of the night sun coming in through the frosted window above the shower. "Let's finish washing up, and then we can do this in bed," he said.

Marik seemed to find his words persuasive. "Okay," he said, getting to his feet and helping Ryou up.

Ryou washed Marik's body more leisurely than Marik had washed his. They were both relaxed now, and Ryou enjoyed touching Marik just for the sake of touching him.

They dried off and slipped back into their clothes when they were finished, then walked back to Marik's room. Marik practically tackled him onto the bed. "Let's go to sleep," he said, clearly more concerned with being close to Ryou than with sleeping.

Ryou yawned. "Let's get into our bedclothes first," he said. It was still relatively early, but he doubted they'd get back up before the morning if they got into bed together.

They both changed quickly, then got under the covers. Marik used Ryou's chest as his pillow. "G'night," he murmured.

"Good night," Ryou replied, resting his arms around Marik's back.

* * *

Ryou and Marik fell asleep within minutes, and both slept soundly through the night. The night sun faded as the morning approached, just as it had every other day for the past several weeks.

Unfortunately, this time, the morning sun didn't rise to replace it. When what would normally have been dawn arrived, the sky remained pitch dark...


	21. A Dark Morning

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 21) – A Dark Morning**  
Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.

* * *

_Knock, knock._

_Mmm?_ Ryou blinked his bleary eyes open at the sound, feeling alarmed when his vision stayed just as dark as it had been. He rubbed his eyes, but nothing changed. _Huh?_ _What time is it? Why can't I see anything?_

He gave Marik's body a squeeze, just to assure himself that he was still there, then glanced toward where he thought Marik's night light was supposed to be. _Maybe the bulb burned out...?_

There was another rap on the door. "Marik?" Ishizu's voice called. "Bakura?"

"Hmm?" Marik murmured. He shifted sleepily atop Ryou's chest before going absolutely still. "What's going on?" he asked, an edge of panic in his voice. His fingers dug into Ryou's pajama shirt. "Where are you? Why is it so dark?"

"I'm right here," Ryou replied, taking one of Marik's hands. "Um. You can come in," he belatedly called to Ishizu.

The door creaked open. Ryou looked over and saw Ishizu's form outlined against a dim light from somewhere behind her. She flipped the light switch, and an equally dull light filled the room. "Are you two all right?" she asked.

Ryou looked up at Marik, who seemed a little calmer now that the lights were on. "Is something wrong with the electricity?" Marik asked.

"Not the electricity, only the lights," Ishizu replied. She paused, looking as though there was something more she didn't really want to say. "Including the sun."

"The sun?" Marik repeated, sliding off of Ryou. He ran over the window and threw open the curtains, revealing nothing but darkness outside. He backed away from the window.

"The real sun, or the other one?" Ryou asked, though he thought he could already tell the answer from Ishizu's hesitation.

"The real one," Ishizu said. "It's seven thirty in the morning."

Ryou glanced at the clock, which only confirmed what Ishizu had just told him. _Not that she'd lie about something like this._ "What happened?" he asked, moving to join Marik at the window.

"I don't know," she said. The lights flickered, and she waited a moment before continuing. "The sun was already gone when my alarm woke me. I turned on the light in my bedroom, and it was weak, like this one. Odion is outside investigating."

"Maybe there's something on the news," Marik suggested. He grabbed Ryou's arm and hurried to the living room, where the lights were already on. Ishizu followed behind them.

Marik fumbled around for the remote, then turned the TV on.

The morning news anchor appeared on screen. The words 'BREAKING NEWS' were just below him, and a darkened picture of a sun with a question mark in the middle floated next to his head. "...everyone to stay home until more can be learned about the situation. For those just joining us now at half past seven, we bring you breaking news about the sun, which has not been seen since its descent from the sky last afternoon."

_He seems awfully calm about the situation,_ Ryou thought. _Then again, that's probably a good thing. It may keep people from panicking._

"While the Domino UFO appeared just after sunset and disappeared at its usual time," the man continued, "not a sliver of the sun's light has been seen on the horizon, and no stars are visible in the sky. There are also widespread reports of light bulb malfunctions, leaving Domino residents with dim lighting even in their own homes." The man put his hand to his ear for a moment, eyes drifting off to the side. "I've just gotten word from the mayor's office that all street lights will be on by eight o'clock. They will be kept on until the sun appears."

"That's something, I guess," Marik said, looking only a little relieved.

The news anchor flipped over the piece of paper he was holding. "And now I'm going to send you over to Ann, our correspondent currently at the city limits. What are you seeing out there, Ann?"

The camera cut to a young woman wearing a bright yellow raincoat with the hood pulled over her head, as though she hadn't known what the appropriate dress for the situation was, and so had just decided to go with standard reporting-from-a-thunderstorm attire. Some kind of light had been set up above her head, making her stand out against the dark background. "Well, I'm seeing some kind of purple barrier," she replied, gesturing over to her side. The camera followed to where she pointed.

Murky purple waves appeared on screen. They moved in all directions, occasionally forming blobs that were unnervingly close to eyes.

Ryou's eyes widened. "Isn't that-?"

"The Shadow Realm," Marik finished. "It looks like that."

Ryou felt a shiver run down his spine.

"The barrier seems to encompass all of Domino City. It continues upward as far as anyone has been able to see, and there doesn't seem to be any way through it so far."

"So we've _all_ been sent to the Shadow Realm somehow," Marik said. "What do we do now?"

"We should call Yugi," Ryou replied. _To find out if he's okay, if nothing else._

Marik brightened. "Good idea. If anyone can get us out of the Shadow Realm, it's him." He picked up the phone and put the receiver to his ear, but then immediately put it back down. He shook his head. "Line's dead."

"We'll go to him, then," Ishizu said.

"Is it safe to drive?" Ryou asked. _Is it even safe to go outside?_

"No," Odion said, appearing in the doorway with a flashlight. "There has already been an accident only a block from here. It would be better to walk."

"I'll get some more flashlights," Marik replied. He ran up to his room, returning with a number of flashlights only someone deeply afraid of the dark could amass. He set them down on the coffee table, then took the biggest one for himself. The light was about the size of a basketball.

_I don't need one quite that big,_ Ryou thought, choosing a lightweight, average-sized flashlight for himself. He turned it on to make sure it worked. "Um. Anything else we should bring with us?"

"Some food, maybe," Marik replied. "Oh, and extra batteries for the flashlights."

They gathered together various supplies, then set out for the game shop.

* * *

They didn't need the flashlights for long; the streetlights were on by eight o'clock, as promised. While dim, the light was more than enough to avoid walking into anything.

They ate a breakfast of sandwiches as they walked. Bringing food turned out to be a good idea, as none of the stores they passed were actually open. They ran across a few more car accident scenes, though no one seemed to have been seriously injured. They passed a fair amount of people on their journey, but the vast majority of Domino residents seemed to be staying inside.

_I can't really blame them for that,_ Ryou thought. _It's better than rioting._

Yugi ran out to greet them as they approached. "Hey," he said. "I was wondering if you'd come. I've been looking out the window for you."

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Marik asked.

Yugi held up his hands. "No more than I've seen on the news," he said. "Let's get inside." Yugi led them into the game shop, then locked the door behind them. "Grandpa went back to bed. He doesn't think there'll be any business today."

"We closed the museum today for just that reason," Ishizu replied.

They walked through the back into Yugi's living room, then set down their supplies on the coffee table. The TV was already turned on to the news. A correspondent was interviewing an astronomy professor from Domino University. It was clear within a few sentences that the professor had no idea what was going on, but he seemed to be trying to avoid saying that directly.

Yugi gestured for everyone to sit down, which they did. They were all eager to figure out what had caused the current situation.

"I was thinking it could have been your dark side," Yugi said, getting straight to the point. "He's the only one I can think of who would do something like this who we've also seen recently."

"Um," Marik replied, clearly put on the spot. "I don't remember anything weird happening, but..." He looked at Ryou for assistance.

Ryou thought it over for a moment, then shook his head. "It couldn't have been him. Marik was with me all night," Ryou said. "He was on top of me- I mean _sleeping_ on top of me," he amended, cheeks heating up a little. "A-anyway. I was asleep, but his dark side is heavier than he is. He'd have woken me up when he transformed, even if he didn't intend to."

Yugi nodded. "That makes sense."

_It could still have been something his dark side did another time,_ Ryou thought to himself. _ This seems like it could be connected to that fake sun. _Ryou nearly repeated his thought out loud, but then thought the better of it. _If Marik hears, his dark will also hear._ "Maybe we should try to figure out more about what's going on before trying to figure out who's responsible."

"That's probably a good idea," Yugi replied. He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Well, first off, I think we can safely say we're in the Shadow Realm," he said, looking to the others for agreement.

He got it, in the form of a few nods.

"So, either we're in the middle of someone's Shadow Game, or we've just been sent here directly somehow," Yugi continued.

"Is that possible?" Ryou asked.

"I'm not sure," Yugi replied. "The Pharaoh always had to do the Shadow Game first, but..." Yugi looked at Marik.

Marik looked uncomfortable. "Um. I always had to use one, too. Even if it was a trick."

"I have no idea how the Spirit did it," Ryou said. For the first time in his life, he almost wished he _did_ know, just so they'd have the information. "But, in any event, the Millennium Items are gone. How could anyone even start a Shadow Game?"

"Duel Monsters cards still have Shadow Magic within them," Odion replied. "It may still be possible for someone to start a Shadow Game with them."

"It would be a Duel Monsters-based Shadow Game, though," Marik said, sounding doubtful. "If someone was playing Duel Monsters in the middle of Domino right now, it would probably have made the news."

"That's true," Yugi said. "The holograms would be too bright to miss. That doesn't mean somebody hasn't found a different way to use the magic in them, though. Maybe we should start looking through Duel Monsters cards for clues."

Since they had no better ideas at the moment, Yugi went and got all his Duel Monsters cards, as well as the official Duel Monsters card index listing all the cards that had ever been created. They started going through them, looking for anything connected to what was going on.

A few minutes in, Ryou discreetly pulled Yugi aside and explained his real theory, about Marik's dark side, the fake sun, and the Aten heresy.

"How long have you known about this?" Yugi asked.

"Er. Not that long," Ryou replied, not wanting it to sound like he'd been hiding anything. "I told you what I thought about the statues and the sun. Ishizu didn't tell me about the false god until recently."

"We should probably be looking into the statues, too, then," Yugi said. "I'll tell the others." He held up a hand to stop Ryou from protesting. "Don't worry. I won't tell Marik we're researching the statues. I'll just say I want to research other possible sources of Shadow Magic in Egyptian history."

Ryou nodded. "That should work."

They returned to the others, and Yugi told them just what he'd said he would. He and Ishizu went up to his room to look at his books and discuss the problem. Ryou, Marik, and Odion continued to look through the cards.

At noon they all took a break for lunch (or breakfast, in freshly awakened Solomon's case). In spite of the coffee and tea they drank, they were all starting to feel fatigued.

By the time three o'clock hit, they were all thoroughly exhausted. "Uuaah," Marik yawned. "It's only mid-afternoon, but it feels like we've been up all night."

"It's the lack of sunlight," Ryou said.

"Yeah," Marik agreed, yawning again. "I haven't felt like this since I lived underground. Let's take another break." He rested his head on Ryou's shoulder, and they both listened to the news at half-attention. Yugi, Ishizu, and even Odion soon joined them, all looking ready for another break.

Nothing new happened until about four o'clock or so, when the windows of Yugi's living room were suddenly flooded with light.

Marik leapt off his seat. "Do you think that's-?" He ran to the window and looked outside excitedly, then seemed to deflate a little. "It's just the UFO."

"At least we'll have light for some of the day," Yugi replied.

Ryou joined Marik at the window, looking out on the fake sun. _Well, if it's still here, our theory is still possible,_ he thought.

Somehow, it wasn't very comforting.


	22. A Sunny Evening

**Title**: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 22) – A Sunny Evening  
**Pairing**: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)**  
Rating**: M**  
Summary**: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.  
**A/N**: Sorry about the lateness, guys. Real life has been busy. The next chapter probably won't be out until after Christmas, but I should hopefully be back to my normal update schedule after that. Meanwhile, enjoy!

* * *

"It's strange that that thing came with us," Marik said, still peering out the window. "It might be a good thing, though."

"A good thing?" Ryou asked.

Marik shrugged. "A fake sun is better than no sun, right?"

"Maybe..." Ryou replied.

"Guys, come look at this," Yugi said, gesturing at them to come over to the TV.

Ryou and Marik left the window to join him, just as the news anchor reappeared on the screen.

"This just in," the news anchor said, holding a new sheet of paper in his hands. "It seems that the sun has, in fact returned. Dawn occurred just a few moments ago, and..."

"But that wasn't really the sun," Ryou protested. _Surely they'd know that? Everyone's been talking about the UFO for weeks._

"Maybe it's just that station," Yugi replied, picking up the remote and switching to the only other channel broadcasting from within the Domino City limits.

"The sun is back!" declared a reporter standing next to a giant cheering crowd.

Yugi frowned. "This is getting a little weird," he said.

"It's been weird for a while," Marik replied. He squinted at the figures on the screen, which seemed almost washed out by bright light. "Aren't those people the UFO nuts? They're probably just happy it hasn't gone missing."

Ryou took a closer look at the figures himself and saw the distinctive yellow hats on most of the heads. "That's them, but surely the _reporters_ aren't that obsessed with UFOs...?"

The camera cut to another reporter standing next to a man Ryou recognized as the mayor of Domino City. "I'm here at City Hall with the mayor, who believes he can shine some light on the situation. Mayor Parker?"

The mayor cleared his throat. "Yes," he said, smiling broadly. "We've determined that the sun never disappeared. The real problem is interference from whatever is currently surrounding the town. It's some sort of odd frequency..." He waved his hand around generally. "...that affected all of our clocks, throwing off the time. We're asking everyone to reset their clocks to the correct time, based on when the sun actually rose."

A new time appeared at the bottom of the screen next to the words: 'Domino City Real Time: Fix your clocks!' The reporter gestured down at it. "As you can see, it's really just after seven AM. We'll be keeping the accurate time on screen for the rest of the day."

"How can a frequency throw off even _mechanical_ clocks?" Marik asked, sounding skeptical.

"It can't," Yugi replied, shaking his head. "And anyway, you'd think something like that would just flat out break at least some of the clocks."

"This doesn't make any sense," Ryou said. "Why is everyone going along with this?"

"They're probably too relieved to have something up there to question it," Marik replied.

All three were quiet for a moment.

It was Yugi who finally spoke up. "I think we need to go down there," he said.

Ryou frowned, but gave it some thought. _If that thing is the key to all of this, it might not be a bad idea. We haven't investigated it nearly enough._ He glanced at Marik, wondering if would be a good idea to bring him along, and if so, what they would tell him.

Marik blinked. "Why?"

"The sun's gone, and everyone's suddenly decided this thing is the real sun," Yugi replied. "It doesn't seem like it could be a coincidence. We need to learn more about it."

"True," Marik replied. He picked up his flashlight. "Let's go."

They gathered up their lightweight supplies, then told Ishizu and Odion where they were going. Odion decided to come with them, but Ishizu said that she had to get to the museum. The mayor had declared that all city buildings would open and close at the 'correct times' that day.

Yugi's grandpa stopped them before they left, giving them each a long range two-way radio from some sort of live action military game he had in the shop. "The phones still aren't working, but at least you'll have a way to call home, or get Ishizu at the museum."

"Thanks, grandpa." Yugi took the radios and handed one to each of the others.

While the others were still talking about the radios, Marik pulled Ryou behind one of the shop's shelves and gave him an eager kiss.

Ryou's eyes widened in surprise. "Mmph!"

Marik pulled back slightly. "Sorry," he said, not sounding at all apologetic. "I don't think we'll have any opportunity for this later."

"It's all right," Ryou said, turning a little pink at the knowledge that the others were only a few feet away. He pressed his lips to Marik's in a fairly chaste kiss, which Marik promptly turned into something far less suitable for a room with other people in it.

Ryou was flushed and breathless when they finally separated, but Marik just looked happy. He tried to look normal as they returned to the others, but knew it was probably a lost cause.

"Ready?" Yugi asked. He and Odion had the look of people who had been waiting very patiently.

Ryou coughed. "Ready."

* * *

The 'sun' was hovering over the general vicinity of KaibaCorp, so Ryou and the others started trekking in that direction.

The heat of the 'sun' got more noticeable as they approached; when they got within several blocks of their destination, Yugi had to stop and take off his coat. "It feels like it's summer over here, not the end of December."

"I'm not sure it even is December here, wherever 'here' really is," Marik replied, shrugging off his own coat. "Time might not be the same in the Shadow Realm."

"It isn't," Ryou agreed. He joined the others in shedding his jacket, then tied it around his waist. "A day feels more like a month. At least we can't starve to death, even if we run out of food for that long..." Ryou trailed off at Yugi's disturbed look.

"Wait, how much time passed the last time you were in the Shadow Realm?" Yugi asked.

_Perhaps I shouldn't have brought that up._ Ryou gave Yugi a broad smile. "Er. It's hard to say. Like I said, time is different here. And my memory of that time is fuzzy." It was true, in a way, but Ryou did remember more than he was letting on. He just didn't think Yugi would benefit from hearing about it, especially in the situation they were currently stuck in. _I came out of it without any new injuries. In some ways, this place is scarier than it is dangerous._

Yugi shook his head. He looked like he was about to say something else, but Odion spoke up first. "We should continue."

Yugi blinked, then nodded. "Shouldn't be too much further," he said, following Odion onward.

They heard the crowd before they saw it. The assembled people were singing some sort of song, though Ryou couldn't make out what the words were. They turned the corner about a block away from KaibaCorp Headquarters and ran right into a security barricade. The light from above was almost blinding.

"Are people being blocked from this area?" Marik asked one of the guards.

"No," the guard replied. "But it'll cost you $150 per person if you want to see the 'sun'. That's per day. If you want a week-long pass, that's $900."

"I guess Kaiba found a way to profit off this," Yugi said. He turned to the others. "Well, I don't think any of us have that kind of money, so..."

"Don't worry about it," came a voice from the other side of the barricade. Ryou turned to see Mokuba Kaiba, wearing shorts, a KaibaLand T-shirt, and dark sunglasses. Mokuba had a quiet conversation with one of the guards, who then lifted the barricade to allow them entrance.

"Here," Mokuba said, handing each of them a pair of sunglasses from the guard station. "You'll need these. You can leave your coats and things here. No one will bother them."

The four put their coats in a neat pile next to one of the guards. Ryou gratefully donned the pair of sunglasses he'd been given. _We really should have thought to bring some._

Mokuba tilted his sunglasses downward to look at each of them. "Do you guys have any idea what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked. _He could be referring to a lot of things about this situation._

"I mean _this_," Mokuba said, gesturing upward, then waving his arms generally around. "Everything. The thing that's been in the sky for the past month. The _real_ sun's disappearance. The weird wall around and over the city-"

"_Over_ the city?" Yugi asked.

Mokuba nodded. "Seto took a helicopter up there to see if he could get out of the city that way, but the wall extended upward into a dome. It's like we're trapped in a giant purple bubble."

"It makes sense," Marik replied, looking thoughtful. "You'd need something like a bubble to get the whole city to the Shadow Realm."

"The Shadow Realm?" Mokuba asked. "See, I knew you guys would know more about this than we do. I thought of you," Mokuba pointed at Yugi, "as soon as I saw the purple wall."

"Ah... we really don't know much more than you do," Yugi replied, running a hand over his spiky hair.

"Well..." Mokuba looked at Ryou. "What about those statue heads you told me about? Could those have anything to do with this?"

Ryou glanced to his side and saw Marik looking at him in surprise. "Um. Maybe," Ryou replied. "Did you find them?"

Mokuba shook his head. "No, but the UFO moved over here the day we brought all the garbage back to Headquarters. We've been through every inch of it, but still haven't been able to figure out what's causing this."

"You're sure the heads aren't here?" Marik asked calmly.

"Positive," Mokuba said. "I've seen every single bit of garbage in there, but there were no statue heads. I can show you what _was_ there later. You should see this thing up close, first. Come on." Mokuba started walking toward the crowd of people. Odion and Yugi followed him.

Ryou moved to do the same, but Marik stopped him. "When did you tell him about the statue heads?"

"Um." Ryou wished they could talk about it later, but knew that he really did have to explain. "I ran into Mokuba the day after _he_ broke the statues. KaibaCorp workers were taking all the garbage, so..."

Marik seemed to think about it for a moment. "That makes sense, but... why didn't you say you were looking for the heads?"

"I knew _he_ wanted them for some reason," Ryou replied, looking away. "I didn't want to warn him that I was trying to find them."

Marik went quiet for a moment, then sighed. "You probably had a point," he said finally. He glanced at the others, who were getting farther and farther away. "We need to catch up," he declared, grabbing Ryou's hand and running off.

Ryou hurried after him.

They caught up with the others at the edge of the crowd. The 'sun' was so painfully bright that Ryou was almost concerned about getting a sunburn. _How do any of these people stand it?_ Ryou wondered, glancing around at the singing UFO fanatics. He saw what looked like a few KaibaCorp personnel in the crowd, which wouldn't have been odd had they not been wearing yellow hats and singing along. "Are those your people?" he asked Mokuba.

"They used to be," Mokuba replied. He lowered his voice somewhat. "Some of them went a little crazy after the sun disappeared. When that thing started shining in the sky today, they decided it was the real sun and joined the... others."

"They aren't the only ones," Marik replied in a normal voice. "Even the news people seem to think that thing is the real sun."

A man in the crowd heard what he said and turned to look at him with an unnerving glint in his eyes. "Are you saying this _isn't_ the real sun?" he asked, looking ready to come to blows.

"No one is saying that," Mokuba replied quickly, pulling Marik away. He led the others to the KaibaCorp Headquarters entrance.

"What was going on with him?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know," Mokuba replied, gesturing at the guards to open the door. "They used to be your average UFO fanatics. A little off, maybe, but not that bad. But a couple of weeks ago, some of them started saying that thing was the _real_ sun, and the old sun was _blasphemous_." Mokuba held up his hands. "The 'real sun' thing was strange enough, but I still don't know where the 'blasphemous' part came from."

Ryou and Yugi looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.

"Anyway," Mokuba continued. "Within a couple of days they were all saying the same thing, and when the sun disappeared, they weren't even surprised. They seem to think their 'real sun' won."

"Do you believe they have something to do with the sun's disappearance?" Odion asked.

Mokuba shook his head. "I don't think any of them have that kind of power," he said, leading them to an elevator. "They all came here for a 'UFO' originally. I think they're just very gullible people."

_I can't argue with that,_ Ryou thought.

They rode the elevator down to one of the underground floors in silence. They emerged in a large room divided into several sub-rooms using clear plastic walls. The sub-rooms appeared to be full of garbage. A few had workers in Haz-mat suits handling the items inside.

"Isn't that kind of overkill?" Marik asked, pointing to one of the men.

"It's weeks-old garbage," Mokuba replied. "Trust me, they want the suits. You won't need them for what I'm taking you to see, though." He walked over to a door at the back of the room, then led them inside.

The smaller room had several tables inside, each filled with various objects. "This is where we put all the unusual or notable objects we found. Do any of them stand out to you?"

"Not immediately," Yugi replied, glancing over the tables. "But we should give it a closer look before giving up."

"Do whatever you need to do," Mokuba replied, relaxing against the door as though ready for a long wait.

The four split up, each taking one table at a time. Ryou surveyed the objects in front of him. The room had plenty of electronic-looking items, but it looked like he'd gotten the non-electronic table. There were various statue-like objects, but, as Mokuba had told them, no heads. He saw an intact lawn gnome, a statue of the Virgin Mary, some strangely melted toy cars, bricks with names carved into them, a bright red circular rock, a fake flute...

Ryou frowned. _Wait a minute..._ He looked at the rock more closely. It was about the size of a dinner plate, but was much too thick and heavy to be used for that purpose. The red color was unnaturally bright, and the stone actually felt hot to the touch. Ryou turned the stone over and saw what looked like a painting of three dead snakes knotted together on the other side. _That's a little weird,_ Ryou thought. He stared at the snakes, feeling like he was missing something.

It took another minute, but Ryou was finally able to figure out what it was. _Those snakes are in the same style as the three on the missing heads,_ he realized. He'd seen the pictures often enough to recognize them. He glanced at Marik on the other side of the room, wondering if maybe they shouldn't have brought him along. _Well, it's too late now._

Ryou brought the stone over to Yugi. _"_What do you think of this?" he asked.

Yugi looked at the stone, frowning in concentration. "In some ways, it looks Egyptian, but I'm not sure. It's a possibility."

There was a strange crackling noise from Yugi's bag, and then Ishizu's voice came through. "Yugi? Yugi, are you there?"

"Oh!" Yugi grabbed the radio from his bag. He pressed the button and spoke into it. "I'm here. Um. Over."

"Good. Something strange has happened to the artifacts at the museum. I think you should all come here right away." She paused. "Over."

"We'll be right there," Yugi replied. "Over." He looked at the stone, then at Mokuba. "Is there any way we could bring this with us?"

"Go ahead," Mokuba replied. "We haven't been able to do anything with it here."

Mokuba led them back to the KaibaCorp entrance. "Let me know if you need anything else," he said, waving at the four as they left through the door.

The four walked quickly through the courtyard, urgently wanting to get to the museum. Ryou felt a twinge of nervousness as they approached the singing crowd, though he couldn't explain why.

His nervousness only grew as the singing died down, then stopped. Every head in crowd turned towards them, and the group moved silently, in perfect unison to block their path away from the building.

The four stopped, then turned back toward the building, but it was no use.

They were completely surrounded.


End file.
